


Learning to Love Yourself

by traptrixnepenthes



Category: Future Card Buddyfight
Genre: M/M, this is the softest thing i've ever written and it's 22k words of character analysis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-19
Updated: 2017-02-19
Packaged: 2018-09-25 13:38:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 22,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9822983
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/traptrixnepenthes/pseuds/traptrixnepenthes
Summary: It's always a big deal when a monster comes to visit, but it's a bigger deal than usual when one that looks just like Tasuku decides to grace Earth, and searches out the Tasuku from Earth, intending on staying right by his side for three days.(ok summaries are fake. this is basically a really massive character analysis fic except it's also gay and features double the usual amount of tasukus. the title is both a pun, and also very literal. i hope you enjoy reading it!)





	1. Chapter 1

Tasuku yawned as he walked into HQ, though he tried really hard to cover it up. The last time he’d walked in tired, someone had taken it as an excuse to badger him about not being old enough for this job. Because there was no such thing as a too-early call-in, yeah.  


Stella was waiting for him just inside, and she smiled. “Sorry to call you in so early, and on the weekend, too… But we, well, had a request for you.”

“What is it?”

Stella started to say something, but got interrupted by a hand on her shoulder. Someone he hadn’t seen in the room when he walked in stepped out from behind her, and who should he see but...a mirror image of himself. Except in a tacky floral shirt and sunglasses. While he was still reeling from this sudden appearance, his doppelganger casually waved a hand at him. “I’m the request, cutie pie. You really do look _almost_ as good as the original.”

“...this is Legendary Brave, Tasuku.” She paused. “As in, his title is Legendary Brave, and his name is also Tasuku. He’s traveled to Earth to...sightsee? I guess?”

“ _And_ to visit you.” The other Tasuku--he had to restrain himself from thinking of him as the fake Tasuku--stepped towards him and smiled, effortlessly confident. How annoying. 

“I already have a Buddy.” His voice was short and clipped, and the other Tasuku didn’t get the hint at _all_ , instead putting his arm around Tasuku’s (the _original_ Tasuku’s) shoulders.

“I just wanted to come down and visit for a few days, see how the me in this world is holding up.” The other Tasuku--no, that’d get confusing, he’d just call him Brave--Brave pushed his sunglasses up, and underneath were sparkling red eyes, the same as Tasuku saw in the mirror every morning. It was eerie, seeing a mirror of himself that spoke with his voice. “Looks like you’re doing okay for yourself.” Brave looked him up and down, and there was something approving in his gaze, and something that felt like when the media wanted him to perform for them.

“Is there any reason you keep looking at me like that?”

“Like what?”

“Like...you’re looking at something in a museum or something.”

“Well, of course. I _am_ looking at a work of art.”

Tasuku could feel his cheeks heating up, and it was awful. “ _Excuse_ me?”

“You look the same as me, after all. And can you really say I don’t look good?”

Tasuku shoved him off, scowling, and Stella coughed to turn attention back to her. “Sorry to interrupt you but, um, we do have an itinerary set up, if you want to follow it. Since Mr. Legendary Brave is a very important guest, all expenses will be paid for by the Buddy Card Office, so you two can go have fun.”

Tasuku knew better than to complain in front of Stella, but after he looked over the itinerary (boring, run of the mill), he noticed that she was beckoning him over. Some sort of secret details about the job?

“So, Tasuku,” she started, once they were out of Brave’s hearing range. He was busy chatting up some of the other officers. “I saw how you were acting earlier around him, so there’s something I need to tell you. It isn’t going to work.”

“What isn’t?”

“I mean...you two. Monster and human relationships hardly ever work out right, okay? I don’t want you getting disappointed when he has to leave.”

Tasuku blinked. Was she really trying to say--

“Since monsters can’t stay on Earth, and it’s really hard to arrange transport to the other worlds, unless that monster is your Buddy, it’s really hard to sustain! So--”

“ _I don’t like him!_ ” Tasuku’s face was burning. He wanted to melt right into the ground and never come back out, not after this. This was worse than when Jack tried to give him The Talk and wouldn’t shut up about eggs. “Not like that! I mean, he’s _me_ , and that would be... _weird_ , right?”

“I’ve seen stranger. But...well, if you say so.” Stella smiled. “But if you need any advice, you can come to me, alright? I’ll keep it a secret.”

After he once again _firmly_ told her that whatever she thought was going on _was absolutely not going on_ , he walked back over to Brave, who smiled at his return. That smile (god maybe that weird announcer chick over at Aibo was right about one thing) on top of what Stella had talked to him about was a terrible combination. The worst.

“So,” Brave said, cyan hair shining in the weak sunlight that filtered through the windows, “ready for our date?”

Legally, Tasuku couldn’t punch him. He could, however, think _really_ hard about it.

\----------------

Their first stop, after the itinerary was tossed out the window, was the local mall. Technically, there were several malls in a city this big, but there was only one that got called “the mall”, and that was where Brave wanted to go.

The doors were unlocked, despite Tasuku saying it’d be too early for anything to be open, and the mall itself was predictably deserted. It would’ve been creepy if he’d been alone, but Brave seemed to love it.

“It’s so empty! It’s so quiet!” He ran from empty storefront to empty storefront happily, looking like a little kid. “I hardly ever get any kind of peace and quiet back in my world. Can we stay here until it opens?”

Tasuku certainly didn’t mind being free from the hustle and bustle of his life, so they found a free table (all the tables were free, and he needed to relish the moment) near the big aquarium in the middle. Brave loved the aquarium too, pressing his hands against the glass and watching the fish swim back and forth.

“So...what’s Dungeon World like?”

“Busy, lots of people. Lots of enemies. Not enough knights to fight the enemies. That’s my job, you understand.” Brave sat down across from him, and now that he wasn’t trying to be obnoxious he looked almost...regal? It felt weird, after their introduction. “I’m a knight, you know. The most famous one in the land. I _am_ legendary, after all.”

“Is this like a vacation for you, then?”

“Got it! For a few days, no one pesters me about how I need to go and slay the dragon, or save the beautiful damsel in distress, or hunt down the evil warlock.” He smiled across the table at Tasuku, and...wow. Did he really look that... _kind_ when he smiled? “Depending on how these few days go, I might come here more often. It’s supposed to be low-key, and no one’s supposed to know I’m here, but that’s a bit difficult when I look like a celebrity like you.”

Tasuku huffed. “Am I that well known, even in other worlds?” He knew, at least on the surface, that it was possible for the denizens of the alternate dimensions to look in on Earth. Why Earth couldn’t look out and why the other worlds couldn’t look at worlds other than Earth was a mystery that no one had ever bothered to look into. “Do you get TV signals, or are you doing it the old-fashioned way?”

“Little of both.” There was now a smug, knowing grin on Brave’s lips, and something tugged in Tasuku’s chest. “So I hear you’re a prince here, hmm?”

“No!” Tasuku buried his face in his hands, groaning. “A reporter gave me that stupid nickname and now it’s the only thing anyone calls me anymore. I don’t want it.”

“Royalty’s pretty important, you know. You could start building your kingdom now, if you wanted. I could be your first knight. I don’t actually have a liege yet, despite my status. I’ve been waiting for someone good enough. Someone as good as me.” Brave paused, and when Tasuku peeked through his fingers at him, he couldn’t read his face. “Someone like you, I guess.”

“You _guess_?”

“What can I say, I’ve got high standards.”

Then there was silence. There wasn’t really anything to say to that. So they just sat there in the quiet, letting the soft sunlight wash over them. It was peaceful, and Tasuku honestly couldn’t remember the last time he’d had a moment like this, when there weren’t orders being shouted into his headset, when he wasn’t expected to fight to win, when Jack wasn’t nagging him about _something_ … It was nice. If slightly illegal.

“You know, we should probably move. We really aren’t supposed to be in here before it actually opens.”

“Did being a cop make you a chronic rule-follower?”

“Guilty as charged. There’s a park we can visit instead, if you aren’t horribly opposed to looking at trees for a while?”

“I think I can handle a few more of those.” Brave stood and offered a hand to Tasuku, grinning. “Allow me to escort you, milord.”

Tasuku would’ve smacked his hand away if he hadn’t been so shocked his face started heating up again. He just stood up, unassisted, and turned away. At least Brave didn’t keep pointing out how he was turning into a living breathing romantic comedy protagonist.

\----------------

Brave was walking behind him, which was fine. Actually, it was perfect. Tasuku pulled out his phone and went to his very best emergency contact--Stella.

He texted her and asked if she was free. She said of course she was. Did he need advice already? It’d only been an hour since they left HQ. Were things progressing faster than he’d expected? Were they really hitting it off that well?

He said he didn’t know exactly if they were getting along _that_ well, but was it normal that everything Brave was doing was making him flustered? Talking about princes and knights and being _his_ knight, and saying he tried to keep up on what he was doing, and offering him his hand? And did he really look that good when he smiled, or was that just something Brave could do? Was this weird? It was weird, right?

There was a several minute pause, and Tasuku sent another text, asking her to please not be gossiping about this. Stella assured him she wasn’t.

Maybe you just have a crush, she said.

That’s totally impossible, he said. Brave is _me_. That’s weird, right? To have a crush on yourself?

There _are_ differences between you and him. Maybe you just need to realize what they all are, she said. Or maybe you’re just a lot cuter than you think.

Tasuku shoved his phone back in his pocket, grumbling. That’d somehow managed to be even less helpful than he was expecting. Of _course_ he didn’t have a crush on Brave. He’d seen enough bits and pieces of the dramas Jack watched to know that whatever romance was supposed to be, it wasn’t supposed to be like _this_. So it couldn’t be that. The matter was settled. Case closed.

Tasuku had been so wrapped up in his thoughts that when Brave said,“So,” he almost screamed. “What do you do in parks?”

Tasuku took a few moments to calm his now-racing heart, then turned to Brave. He really hoped he didn’t look nervous. “Mostly, you just sit in them and enjoy nature. We’re in the middle of a big busy city, so it’s kind of a luxury to have enough time to do that.”

While it was decidedly after sunrise now, the sun wasn’t shining too brightly yet, and there were still soft shadows on the curves of the leaves and grass and dirt trail. And on Brave. He seemed absolutely fascinated by the concept of parks, staring above the treetops at the tall buildings in the distance.

Tasuku had been called pretty before. He’d seen enough of the fansites dedicated to him to know it wasn’t exactly a rare occurrence, but he’d never really been sure what about him was “pretty”. But now, seeing the soft breeze tousling Brave’s hair, the curves of his face, the way the sun made his eyes shine, even just in seeing how he carried himself--Tasuku felt like he could understand why people called him that.

“Can you tell me more about--” He’d blurted it out before he actually knew what he wanted to say. “About what it’s like being a knight?”

Brave turned his attention to him, and Tasuku’s whole body felt warm, like the sunlight was getting stronger. “Let’s find someplace to sit down.”

They found a spot in the sunshine by a tree, sitting just outside the shade. There was still dew on the grass, but neither of them seemed to mind it. Neither of them seemed to mind how close they’d ended up sitting together, either. Brave leaned back on his hands and stared up at the sky, a soft blue with white wisps of cloud, with such a faraway look on his face Tasuku wondered if he’d rather be back in his home world right now.

“I complain about it, but there’s nothing else I’d want to do. I get to go gallivanting from town to town, taking care things too hard for regular people to handle, and then I get rewarded in gold and jewels and the local lord or lady wanting to marry me off to their kid. It’s not glamorous, but it sure beats anything _else_ I could be doing.” He grinned. “Besides, all my victory stories are great when I’m trying to impress someone.”

“Really.”

“Really! Wanna hear any of them?”

“Give me the best one you have.”

Brave bounced up and assumed a stance Tasuku had seen before during combat training, and told the story of his victory against the demon who dwelled on a mountain’s peak, snatching maidens from the nearby village. He acted out every part, every swing of his phantom sword, and interesting as it was, Tasuku’s mind was elsewhere. Mostly, he was amazed at how comfortable he felt around Brave; there wasn’t the strained awkwardness he felt suffocated by every time he was forced to talk to anyone else for a long time. His schedule was so strained by work and filling in school and schoolwork and remedial lessons into the cracks that he didn’t really have time to try and figure out what everyone else his age wanted to talk about, and that meant despite being _the_ famous Ryuuenji Tasuku, he didn’t have that many friends, and those he did he could only talk to about Buddyfight.

But Brave was the same as him. He was always so busy with his job at being a knight in shining armor that now that he was here on Earth, everything Tasuku talked about would seem new and wonderful. And everything Brave talked about would be new and wonderful to Tasuku, too. It was the first time in ages he could freely talk to someone without having to carefully skirt around conversation topics, trying to avoid looking dumb because he didn’t know something popular.

Brave finished his story and sat back down, and then they had the easiest conversation Tasuku had ever had.

\----------------

The sun had risen farther into the sky, and now they were walking through the streets to find somewhere to eat. The transport between Dungeon World and Earth hadn’t had any complimentary meals, and Tasuku had been called in so early he’d only had time to put on his uniform before he left, so the only option left to them was to find a little cafe and get breakfast. Stella (his savior in a skirt and bun) told him where to find a slightly more upscale one, saying it would be totally okay since the government was paying for it.

Brave’s sunglasses were back on properly, and Tasuku was wishing he had some of his own--people were on the streets now, and that meant getting stared at. People were pointing at him, which wasn’t a new thing, but this time he was getting different whispers.

“Are they cosplayers?”

“There’s two of him. That means neither of them can be him, right?”

At the very least, that meant no one was running up to him asking for an autograph or to fight him or any of the other weird requests he’d heard over the years. He’d been worried that the presence of _two_ Tasukus would mean getting mobbed twice as much, but Brave’s presence was actually keeping away the crowd. Just another reason to keep him close.

It wasn’t far to the cafe, and they chatted about this and that about their worlds as they walked. Brave kept asking about how the tall buildings could stay up even though they looked like they were made all out of glass, and Tasuku kept having to make up answers. They arrived mercifully quickly, since it looked like Brave was starting to get skeptical of some of Tasuku’s on-the-spot architecture notes, and the cafe itself was...exactly like something Stella would like.

It had a small storefront with full-length windows and a sign hanging above that had the cafe’s name in English, written in loopy cursive. The interior was all soft colors, white and warm beige and pinks and lavenders, with cushioned chairs arranged around little tables, and only a few patrons were in this early. Tasuku realized too late that Stella had probably recommended it because she’d gone to it on a date, and now it was too late to back down. It was time to enter Sweet Dreams Cafe.

Brave seemed to like it, at least. He crouched down in front of the glass counter, looking at the cakes that were on display--delicately frosted and decorated with bright fruits. Tasuku made a mental note to get one of the smaller ones for him when he could. Behind the counter was a tired-looking teenager, and Tasuku smiled as pleasantly as he could, nudging Brave with the toe of his boot to get him to stand up and look at the menu already. 

“Oh, are you two playing at being Tasuku?” The worker’s smile looked the same as Stella’s when she had to work at the front desk of the office. “My little cousin does that too.”

Tasuku was about to snap at him, but before he could, Brave said, “Yeah! Isn’t he the coolest?” He shot Brave a glare, but Brave was looking at him under his sunglasses, somehow saying _don’t worry about it_ without speaking a word. “What kinda food do you have here?”

They ordered, and Tasuku couldn’t help noticing how similar their orders were, and how _different_. They’d ordered the same fancy breakfast sandwich, but while Brave’s was just bread and meat and cheese, Tasuku had asked for tomato and lettuce on his. They’d both gotten coffee, and Tasuku’s stayed black and bitter while Brave dumped in enough sugar and cream to kill the average person.

“You have coffee in Dungeon World?”

Brave stared at him like he’d sprouted wings. “What kind of uncivilized world wouldn’t have coffee?”

Tasuku bit back a comment about how Dungeon World was just medieval Europe with the serial code filed off, and sipped at his coffee, shuddering. The truth was he hated coffee and he hated how bitter it was, but he’d once overheard his coworkers saying drinking it any way but black was for kids. Just one more of the little burdens with having to be like an adult.

“...thank you, by the way. For earlier. With the cashier.”

Brave shrugged, stirring his coffee with one of those little tiny stir-sticks. “I know you don’t like getting called a kid. It’s no issue.”

“Would it be too much to ask how you know that?” Tasuku had a sneaking suspicion, after something Brave had said earlier, but…

“I, well.” Was his face getting red behind those sunglasses? “I’ve seen some of your interviews on TV. They just came up when I was, uh, checking out some things on Earth with scrying. It was just the kind of feeling you gave off when I saw you talking.” He was _definitely_ blushing. “I wasn’t looking for them on purpose!”

“Sure.” Tasuku smiled despite himself. That had been a cute little display.

“Wow!” Brave said it so loudly they got looks from everyone else in the shop, and his face was still bright red. “I see you’re not adding anything to your coffee! Wow! I can’t handle it at all without adding stuff to it.”

Before Tasuku could react to that little outburst, Brave pushed his coffee over to him. “Why don’t you try some of mine?”

Well, if he wanted to change the topic _that_ badly. He’d never actually tried coffee that wasn’t black, and now was a perfect time to do that. He picked up Brave’s cup and took a sip, and was amazed at how... _not terrible_ it tasted. It was still bitter, but much less so--with how much sugar and cream Brave had put in, it almost tasted more like ice cream than coffee.

“So? How is it?”

“It’s...pretty good. I don’t really have much of a sweet tooth, though.”

“Not that.” Brave had made a full recovery and was grinning widely. “I mean the indirect kiss we just had.”

Tasuku was so shocked he almost dropped the coffee, and barely restrained himself from throwing it at that stupid smug smirk across from him. The look on his face must’ve been spectacular because Brave was cracking up across from him, and it was making it _really_ hard to not splash him with his own coffee.

“I’m just kidding!” He reached over and plucked his cup from Tasuku’s hands. “You should’ve seen your face when I said that!”

It was only the divine intervention of their sandwiches being brought to them that kept Tasuku from shouting at him about _proper conduct_ , since it reminded him they were in public, and had already been getting stares from the other patrons. Instead, he just hit him with the strongest glare he could, hoping the message got across, but Brave’s smile just grew. Was he feeling victorious or something?

The sandwich was good, at least. It was certainly better than the ones at the place he would’ve taken them to, but now he wasn’t sure Brave deserved these ones.

“So,” Brave said around a mouth of sandwich, as if nothing had happened, “why did you decide to become a cop?”

Tasuku frowned at him, but answered anyways. “I wanted to protect people. That’s...it. I’ve been doing this for four years, and I never really thought about it too hard beyond that.”

“What kind of world lets a little kid go into a dangerous profession like that?”

“The same kind that lets someone the same age as me become a knight, I’m assuming?”

Brave laughed, and Tasuku noticed that the corner of one side of his mouth tilted up a little when he did, turning his smile into a lopsided grin. “Can’t argue with that!”

\----------------

They spent their time after breakfast wandering around the city, following whatever whims they had in terms of where they were going. Brave, for his part, kept leading them to places Tasuku had never seen before, and then asking where they were, and this kept going on until Brave looked up at the sky and announced it was noon, and therefore time to find lunch. Tasuku checked his phone and, sure enough, Brave was right. Through some sort of dumb luck they’d wandered around in a big circle and were now close to the mall again.

“So,” he said, grabbing Brave’s wrist before he could dash off, “how do you feel about visiting the mall again, this time when it’s not illegal to?”

They walked back to the mall, and after being on their feet all day Tasuku was looking forward to resting for a while. They chatted about what they’d get at the mall, and he had to regretfully admit he hadn’t spent that much time there and didn’t really know what was good and what wasn’t. Brave just flashed that radiant smile at him and said that meant they could both find out. It was almost infuriating how he could say _anything_ while smiling like that and Tasuku would be helpless to do anything but agree.

The mall itself, of course, was crowded. They’d picked the single busiest time of day to stop by, and even just standing near the walls looking at all the stores felt like they were blocking traffic. Tasuku had never been all that good with crowds and Jack wasn’t even here to help with it, but standing close to someone he knew still felt better than trying to deal with it alone.

“Hey!”

That was a familiar voice. And it wasn’t Brave’s voice. That left only one option. He turned, and Gao was waving at him through the crowd. Tasuku brightened up immediately, and he grabbed Brave’s wrist and started pulling him over to where his one other friend was standing. It wasn’t that he was tired of being around Brave, not even in the slightest, but giving him someone else to talk to would give Tasuku a few moments to relax.

Gao had managed to grab an entire table by the aquarium, and he was with a few of his other friends as well. It really was a stroke of fortune that he’d apparently had the same idea about lunch that Tasuku’d had. “Hi! It’s been a while, hasn’t it? How are you all doing?”

Gao grinned, and gestured for him and Brave to take a seat. “Same as usual! Who’s with you?”

“This is, uh…” Tasuku suddenly realized he had no idea how to introduce Brave. He couldn’t introduce him with the nickname he’d given him in his head. That would be weird. He glanced over at Brave, who was being uncharacteristically quiet--he looked focused on something, and Tasuku didn’t know what it is. “This is, um, he’s--”

“ _Stop!_ ” Brave held up a hand, and conversation halted, both at this table, and from a few people nearby, too. There was an authority in his voice that Tasuku recognized; it was the same his commanding officers used. “I am the rogue knight of the land, the Legendary Brave, and my name is Tasuku. And you are…”

Tasuku regained the ability to respond, and went to introduce Gao and his friends, but Brave pointed to Gao. Even just that simple movement held such power that Tasuku didn’t say anything. 

“The warrior, Gao.” He gestured to the boy sitting next to Gao, the brown haired one whose name always escaped Tasuku. “The craftsman, Baku.” Next, the purple haired girl. “The sage, Kuguru.” And finally, to the blond kid. “The blue knight, Noboru.”

A bubble of silence in the cacophony of the mall. No one said anything. What was there to say?

“I have fought alongside each one of you, and I know the merits each and every one of you have. It is an honor to meet you here.” The way Brave was speaking, the way he held himself--even in his stupid sunglasses and his stupid floral shirt, it was obvious that he was someone powerful, someone strong. He commanded their attention effortlessly. It was suddenly much easier to believe that he was a knight who earned respect and fought on the front lines.

“Although,” he said, adopting that smug, cocky smirk he loved to wear, “I _was_ still the best of us all.”

The silence stretched on, and Brave simply took a seat. Finally, whatever stupid spell he’d cast snapped off, and Tasuku could explain. “He’s from Dungeon World, on a visit here on Earth. He’s going to be around for a few days.”

“Oh, what? I think I have his card!” Gao pulled out his deck and started rifling through it, and then shook his head. “Nope. Not in this one, at least.”

“Oh, c’mon, Gao. Don’t embarrass yourself in front of the real deal!” Baku set his toolbox on the table and pulled it open, skimming the cards with a finger. “This one. Legendary Brave, Tasuku. Five thousand power and defense, and two critical.”

Brave reached over and plucked the card from Baku’s fingers. “Huh. Wow. You know, holding this card is kinda surreal. Like, that’s _me_. I’m holding _myself_.”

Brave laughed, and Gao and Baku joined him. Tasuku glanced over at the two that hadn’t said anything yet, and saw Noboru whispering something to Kuguru, and Kuguru giggling. He sat down by them, since the other three had gotten into an into an intense conversation about battle tactics, and they both looked at him, grinning.

“So, Tasuku,” Kuguru said, practically singing, “looks like someone’s got a _crush_ , doesn’t it?”

He blushed immediately, and hated himself for it. “I don’t! I _do not_! Why does everyone keep assuming that I--”

“Hold on,” interrupted Noboru, who was now grinning wider. “Never said it was _you_ who had the crush. That was a pretty specific denial there.”

“Well if it’s not me,” Tasuku said, glancing over at Brave to make sure he wasn’t looking over at this conversation, “then who? Who are you talking about?”

Noboru and Kuguru exchanged a look, and they sighed in unison. “ _Him_ , obviously.” Kuguru pointed at Brave. “He’s the one with a crush. He’s not even being subtle about it.”

“What? On who? He just met all of you.”

Now the troublesome twosome looked like they were on the verge of bursting into laughter. “On _you_ , genius.” Noboru’s words hit him somewhere in his chest, a twinge that he didn’t know the meaning of. “You know that little bit where he showed off how he knew all our names before you introduced him? His whole knightly entrance?”

“He’s trying to impress you, Tasuku. Did you really not pick up on that?”

Tasuku stared at them, his stomach flipping around inside him. He was hearing their words, and he knew what they meant, but he didn’t understand them. “What? Why would he want to impress me?”

“Because he _likes_ you, dummy!” They stabbed him in unison, and Tasuku was left speechless. “Since clearly we have to spell it out for you,” Kuguru said, “he _likes_ you and he’s trying to look cool in front of you because _he wants you to like him back._ ”

There were some words for how Tasuku felt. Dumbfounded. Stupefied. Thunderstruck. Flabbergasted. But he was _definitely absolutely not_ feeling _even a little bit_...hopeful. “H-how do you know?”

“Woman’s intuition.” Kuguru shrugged, and Noboru nodded. “But the most important thing is: what are you going to do now that you know?”

Tasuku desperately tried to think of an escape. Brave had started telling Baku and Gao one of his adventure stories and there was no point for him to jump into their conversation. “I-I don’t know.” He paused. “What am I supposed to do?”

“Well, if you like him too, you should tell him!”

“Although it’s a little weird, since he’s, y’know, you.” Noboru just had to ruin the mood. “Does being famous really make you that self-absorbed?”

“Hey! I’m _not_ self-absorbed, and he’s _not_ me.” He was about to continue, and then he paused. He’d never really talked to these two before. Maybe exchanged a few words with Kuguru, had a fight or two with Noboru. There was absolutely no reason for him to go spilling his secrets to them. Sure wouldn’t stop him, though. “He’s _better_ than me. I only look cool on TV. He’s _actually_ cool. He’s done all these amazing things that no one else could do, he’s saved people’s lives, he’s an actual _hero_ …”

They glanced at each other again. “Tasuku, he’s _you_. Everything you like about him are qualities you have.”

“What?” He shook his head. “No, that can’t be right. He’s all the things my stupid fansites say about me, and I’m none of them. He’s, like…” Tasuku’s voice dropped even lower than it’d already been. “Like, for one, he’s actually _pretty_.”

Noboru started laughing at him, which immediately made him regret everything he’d just divulged, and Kuguru looked like she would’ve joined him if she wasn’t so polite. “Tasuku,” she said, very gently, “he looks _exactly like you_.”

Tasuku started grumbling under his breath about how they just didn’t understand and never would until they met their _own_ trans-dimensional counterpart, but Kuguru, the nice one, gently put a hand on his. “I mean, it _is_ kind of weird, but...the whole country wants you happy. If you’re happy with him, another you...well, that’d be fine with everyone. So you don’t need to worry. Just do what makes you happy, Tasuku.”

They were almost as bad as Stella. “I _don’t_ like him,” he grumbled, but even he could feel that it wasn’t as believable as he was hoping it was.

There was a tap on his shoulder, and Tasuku was shocked out of his sulking. He turned, and Brave was aiming that lethal weapon he called a “smile” at him. “Baku and Gao are offering to get us lunch. Do you have anything you wanna recommend?”

Tasuku’s heart was pounding. He could feel Noboru and Kuguru grinning at him. Everyone was staring at him, and it felt so much different from being on the fight stage, or being in front of TV cameras. “Um, how about you go with them, and pick something for us?”

Brave, Baku, and Gao left, and Tasuku turned back to Kuguru and Noboru, glumly accepting the unwanted gossip and advice session he’d have to suffer through while they were gone.

\----------------

_He likes you._

They had left the mall, and now were walking side by side. Where they were going, Tasuku didn’t know. He could hardly think. Kuguru’s words just kept echoing in his head.

Sometimes, their hands would bump, and they’d both jerk away like they’d been electrocuted. It certainly _felt_ like he got jolted every time Brave touched him. But he didn’t want to walk a little farther away from Brave, and Brave didn’t move away either.

_He likes you._

“So, uh,” Tasuku said, being really impressed with how eloquent he was being today, “where do you want to go next?”

“Hmm…” Brave was acting casual. Was he as nervous as Tasuku was? He sure didn’t act like it. “Let me see where you live.”

Those words made him feel the same jolt that brushing against his hand did. Technically, he wasn’t supposed to take official guests to where he lived, since that was against protocol. But it was the only place they’d really get to be alone, now that it wasn’t early in the morning anymore. “Sure, but I don’t think you’re gonna be too impressed by it.”

Tasuku lived in an apartment, with rent paid for by the Card Office. The building itself was nondescript, five stories tall, facing a major road, and backed by a strip mall. Basically, no one would’ve thought he lived there, and he was close enough to a coffee shop and grocery store that he didn’t have to go far for anything he needed. His apartment was on the fourth floor of five, and the farthest one from the stairs up. No one lived in the apartment next to his, and he didn’t know the landlord very well either. It was nice and secluded, after all the hustle and bustle of his usual day to day life.

Brave was absolutely amazed by it.

“So, you all live together?”

“Not in the same room, but kind of.”

“Do you know everyone?”

“Not even close.”

“Do you _want_ to know everyone?”

“Honestly? I’ve never really thought about it.”

“It’s so tall!”

Tasuku unlocked the door and held it open, wondering if Brave’s little bubble of wonder wouldn’t get popped at seeing the inside. From the entryway, the very first thing he’d see was what Jack had turned into his nest--a couch, now mildly clawed up, and a pile of blankets and pillows that all looked old and a little bit ragged. Next to that was a heat lamp Tasuku had gotten at the pet store, for when Jack was in his smaller form, and most embarrassingly, on the wall was every drawing Tasuku had made when he was nine or ten years old. Every single one. Including one of those pictures he’d made out of glue and macaroni.

In the same area was the TV, where Jack watched his late-night shows and where Tasuku watched whatever was on when he had the time, and a single video game console Takihara had gotten him for his birthday two years ago. It’d come with two controllers and even a few games the older officer didn’t play anymore, but Jack’s hands weren’t the right shape to hold a controller, and Tasuku was just...busy. Closer to the door was the little tiny kitchen that was hardly used, and across from that, laundry machines that whoever had set this up for him had included. From there, a small hallway that led to the bathroom and to Tasuku’s room, which he was really wishing he’d cleaned up before he dashed out this morning.

Brave peered at Jack’s nest, not wanting to actually get close to it. “What’s this?”

“It’s where my Buddy sleeps. He’s a dragon.” Tasuku smiled. “The landlord said he’s supposed to stay small when he’s on the premises, but he hates doing that when he doesn’t have to, so…”

“Where’s his hoard?”

“I...don’t think he has one? He keeps all the drawings I did when I was younger, but that’s about it.”

Brave shook his head. “No, those don’t feel like his hoard. They’re like...replacements for his hoard. Does that make sense?”

“You’ve interacted with more dragons than I have, so honestly...not too much.”

Brave just shrugged. “You’ve got a much more humble home than I was expecting, though! Seeing how you are on TV I figured you’d have something a little more...you know.”

Tasuku shrugged, opening the fridge to avoid looking at Brave staring at where he lived, and yep, there was food in it. Right where it was supposed to be. “I didn’t want anything too spectacular. I don’t need it.”

“So you had something spectacular before? What was it like?” There was an awkward pause, but Brave filled it in. “Maybe it’s just further proof that you’re the one meant to be my prince.”

Tasuku had almost forgotten the conversation they’d had so early this morning, and now he had another reason to hide his face--he felt like a lot of what he’d been doing today was trying to hide from Brave. Trying to hide what Stella said to him, trying to hide what Kuguru had said to him, trying to hide how he felt every single time Brave crossed the line of what was supposed to be proper between a visiting monster and an officer...trying to hide how he felt when those were apparently just more jokes.

So, for what felt like the first time, he’d try and be open. “Do you wanna see my room?”

Brave practically jumped at the suggestion.

Tasuku’s room wasn’t...clean. As he opened the door in he momentarily regretted even suggesting bringing Brave in here, but Brave walked on in like he owned the place and sat down on the messy, unmade bed and looked around. By Tasuku’s bed was his desk, covered in loose pages and textbooks and unfinished homework he kept _saying_ he’d get to, and the tiny shelves above were crammed with books and little collectible figurines of Jack he’d gotten with some spare cash. By the door was a bigger bookcase, also filled to the brim, more figures clustered on the shelves and on top of it, and most of his wallspace had bright posters covering it up, ones that’d come with the Jack figures. Above his bed, he had a cluster of glow-in-the-dark stars that were for now almost invisible against the ceiling, so at least that didn’t feel cluttered. But the worst was his floor--he needed to do laundry at some point in the near future, and most of his clothes still hadn’t made it into the pile at the foot of his bed where they needed to be. It all looked...embarrassing.

“I love it!” Brave said cheerfully. “It’s not often I get to see anywhere the occupant actually seems comfortable in. This is nice!”

“No?” Tasuku sat down on his desk chair, eyes fixed on Brave. That really hadn’t really been the reaction he was expecting, but...it was nice. “What’s it like on Dungeon World?”

“Well…” Brave waved his hand airily. “I don’t really have a permanent residence myself, being the most incredible knight in the land, and thus the one who gets called on the most for everything. I’m always moving around, so I definitely don’t get a place like this, and all the fancy castles and estates I’ve stayed in while the local lords and ladies regaled me with all the luxuries they could offer felt...kind of stuffy, honestly. I came from humble beginnings myself, so maybe it’s just because I can’t ever feel comfortable in really fancy places, but it never feels like the people who live in them on a permanent basis care for them all that much either.” He smiled, and for once, it wasn’t directed at Tasuku, but at his room, and maybe his whole apartment. “This place is nice. People actually live in it, not just sleep in it.” Tasuku smiled. There was such a fondness in Brave’s expression when he talked about his world, even when he was complaining about it. He wondered if he looked the same talking about Earth. “Oh! That reminds me, am I gonna meet your dragon?”

“You mean Jack? He’s not here right now. My schedule got cleared for the next few days just for you, and since I won’t be doing any of the heavy lifting, Jack got put on a routine assignment to check on conditions in his home world. I don’t think he’ll be coming back before you leave.”

“Oh...I’ve always wondered what it’d be like to talk with a dragon that isn’t trying to kill me too much.” Tasuku stared at him, and Brave laughed. “Well since he isn’t here, what else do you do to keep yourself entertained around here?”

Looked like Tasuku would finally have a use for that second controller.

\----------------

Tasuku had guiltily pushed away Jack’s nest to the very edge of the room so he and Brave could sit in front of the couch and play video games. Brave had refused to sit in something that smelled like dragon, even though Tasuku couldn’t smell anything, and he silently promised to put it all back into place after Brave left for the evening.

They went to a nearby restaurant that was a favorite of Tasuku’s, and it’d been a much nicer experience than the cafe they’d gone to or even lunch with Gao and his friends. The staff all knew him and so did the regulars, and they saw him enough that they treated him like a regular person and not some television idol like everyone else did. They didn’t ask any weird questions about Brave either, which was nice, and not a single person implied they were on a date, which was a refreshing change of pace. The meal passed amiably, and the walk back was good enough until Tasuku asked the most dreaded question of all.

“So, did you make any arrangements for where you were going to stay tonight?”

Brave just kind of stared at him blankly as they climbed the stairs up to the fourth floor. “What are you talking about?”

“You know, where are you going to be sleeping? Didn’t Stella or someone help you make plans for that when you first got here?”

“...yeah, I remember that happening.”

“And?”

“And what?”

“And where are you going to be staying? I need to take you there before it gets too late.”

Brave was silent, not saying a word all the way back up to Tasuku’s front door, and after an entire day of not being able to get him to shut up, it was kind of worrying. Tasuku unlocked the door, as was habit, but Brave grabbed the handle before he could actually open the door. “I’m staying here.”

Tasuku didn’t even have time to protest before Brave opened the door and walked in without him, and didn’t even manage to catch up to him before his shoes were off. “What do you mean you’re staying here? That’s--”

“Stella said it’d be fine! She was the one who asked me about accommodations and we talked and she said it’d be fine!” Brave had his back turned to Tasuku, arms crossed, not looking at him. “She said she’d tell you.”

Tasuku cursed under his breath. He already knew exactly what Stella had been thinking--Brave would’ve agreed easily, and then Tasuku’s personality would’ve been enough for him to reconsider and go to an actual hotel or something. Of course, that plan might’ve actually worked if she’d actually bothered to _tell him_. And now Brave didn’t want to go anywhere. Great.

“Well, she _didn’t_ tell me, and it’s against protocol to let visitors from other worlds stay with officers under any circumstances.” His words came out a lot harsher than he’d intended, tinged by his annoyance with Stella. Tasuku took a deep breath. “It’s...not that I don’t like having you around or anything, but…”

“No!” Brave turned around, and he was pouting, an altogether too-childish expression on someone who’d seemed so regal earlier in the day. “I came here so I could visit _you_. I didn’t come all the way from another world just so you could toss me out at the end!”

“It’s not the end. We still have another day and a half together. Not sleeping in the same building isn’t going to change that.” He tried to say this as gently as he could, but Brave’s frown just deepened.

And his response was to sit down in the middle of the floor. “I’m not moving.”

Tasuku was pretty sure he could’ve forced Brave out of his apartment if he tried hard enough, but he just took a deep breath and counted to ten. Stella once told him that he’d jeopardized operations by only listening to his emotions and not thinking things through. So. Brave came to Earth specifically so he could visit Tasuku. So they could spend time together, just the two of them. Their introduction had been Brave trying to pull some sort of cool act, calling Tasuku cute, a work of art. Telling him stories he kept on reserve for people he wanted to impress. Using the trans-world scrying system to keep an eye on him and check up on him. Staying close to him and _wanting_ to stay close to him, despite the fact that Tasuku could be the poster child for awkward thirteen year olds. Tasuku wasn’t an expert, and he didn’t have the intuition Kuguru and Noboru claimed to have, but...Brave seemed to actually care about him. And even if rules were rules, and the rules in question being more like actual laws, he couldn’t rip all of Brave’s expectations into shreds. It just wouldn’t be fair to him.

So Tasuku faked a heavy, beleaguered sigh and sat down on the floor across from him. He reached out a hand, intending to put it on one of Brave’s, but hesitated. “Fine. You can stay here. But I hope you know I’m going to have to fudge my report for you, so I hope you appreciate it.”

The smile Brave turned on him shined so brightly he was sure it could be seen out the windows, and it told him he’d made the right decision. He was about to stand up and give marching orders when Brave tackled him, arms wrapped tight around Tasuku’s chest as they crashed onto the floor. “ _Yes!_ I promise you won’t regret it! You’re the best!”

Dazed and not really sure what to do, Tasuku gently looped his arms around Brave’s waist. “You’re...you’re pretty great too.” It sounded stupid and awkward but it was true, and that was enough for now.

They untangled themselves and Tasuku helped Brave up. He’d kind of been hoping for a night alone, so he could try and figure out what exactly it meant when he looked at Brave and felt his chest get tight, but that could wait awhile. First he had to find two cleanish sets of nightclothes, shower, wash his face, brush his teeth, and send a strongly worded text to Stella asking her to _please_ inform him before telling any visitors he was an open hotel room.

He dug out a spare toothbrush for Brave and handed the bathroom off to him, now content to collapse onto his bed and shove his face into the pillow. Why _did_ he feel so wound up whenever Brave smiled at him? He’d never really felt that way when anyone else smiled at him. He didn’t even feel that way when Gao, the first friend he’d made outside of the force, smiled at him. What was it about Brave that made him so special?

Maybe it was because Brave was him. It had been weird before, thinking about the fact that he and Brave were the same person, just from different dimensions, but now it just felt...incorrect, somehow. Sure, they looked the same, and on many levels, acted the same. But Brave was different. He was confident (just look how easily he could start conversations with people he barely knew) and pretty (just like how all of Tasuku’s fans said he was) and brave (just listen to all the stories he could tell about his victories) and he was everything Tasuku _wanted_ to be. Sure, he was confident enough in his fighting prowess, and he’d never lost a fight while he was working, but when he was on the job he always knew in the back of his mind that if he _did_ lose, if the criminal _did_ get away from him, that Takihara or someone else would be there to clean up the mess for him. His life had never been in real danger, not like Brave’s had been. They were similar, definitely, but Brave was just so much...better.

And yet, Tasuku couldn’t resent him. They hadn’t even been together a full twenty-four hours, and _yet_ , Tasuku could feel the same things that drove him to wake up and get out of bed every day driving Brave, too. The same need to protect people, the same need to help everyone he could. He couldn’t resent someone who wanted to do the same things as him. And he couldn’t resent someone whose smile got stuck in his mind like that. Every time Tasuku closed his eyes, he could see Brave’s smiling face--the way his eyes scrunched up in the corners, the way one side of his mouth tilted up a little more than the other, the way the one little curl bounced when he laughed…

Alright. Maybe he did... _like_ Brave. A little bit. And maybe--his heart pounded at the thought--Brave liked him too, like Kuguru had said. He felt a little silly, feeling so wrapped up in confusing feelings for someone he hadn’t even known that long, but he was sure, absolutely positive that this couldn’t _possibly_ be a cr--

The bathroom door opened and Tasuku sat up instantly, trying to forget everything he’d been thinking about, praying to whichever god that governed these kinds of things that his face wasn’t bright red. Brave walked in, towel on his head, and sat down on Tasuku’s bed, half an inch away, his pinkie almost brushing against Tasuku’s. He moved his hand away before it could try anything silly, and then asked, “So, where were you planning on sleeping? It’s not like we have that much room.”

“With you, obviously? It’s not like there’s any _other_ beds in here.”

He said it so matter-of-factly that it took a few moments to process, and if he hadn’t been blushing before, he definitely was now. “ _What?_ ”

“I mean,” he said, ruffling the towel over his hair, “it’s not like I can sleep on your couch. It and all those blankets smell like _dragon_.”

Tasuku had to take another deep breath to avoid saying anything he’d regret, and exhaled very slowly. This was a battle he couldn’t win. He wouldn’t ever win against Brave. “Fine. Whatever. Just don’t...whatever.”

After lights were turned out, Brave took the outer edge, and Tasuku shoved himself as close to the wall as possible. There was only one pillow, and their heads were altogether way too close, and even as he heard Brave’s breathing even into the slow, steady rhythm of sleep, Tasuku felt far too awake. How was he supposed to sleep with Brave two inches away from him? How was he supposed to sleep when he kept thinking about that infuriatingly perfect smile or how warm he’d been when they’d hugged earlier? How was he supposed to sleep when he wanted to roll over and put his arms around Brave again and _hug him_ \--

Tasuku shoved himself into the tiny little gap between the wall and the bed, as far away from Brave as he could manage. It was going to be a long, restless night, and he couldn’t even move.  



	2. Chapter 2

Tasuku’s first thoughts upon waking up were that something was missing. His alarm wasn’t going off, but that wasn’t it. No pillow under his head, but that happened sometimes. He rolled over, staring blearily at his empty bed.  


Empty bed?

He jolted up, stumbling out of bed, practically falling over himself as he scrambled to find Brave. He’d never hear the end of it if he lost someone he was _officially_ supposed to be taking care of. Not in his room--bathroom door was open--rattling from the kitchen--

Brave was digging through the fridge, and he was wearing the most offensive thing Tasuku had ever seen in his life. He’d stolen one of Tasuku’s school shirts and had clearly gotten frustrated with it halfway through, since it was only buttoned halfway down, and thrown over his shoulders was Tasuku’s uniform jacket. It was sloppy and careless and he _still_ managed to make it look good, and Tasuku had half a mind to rip the jacket off of Brave and tell him to change into something else. _He’d_ never looked that good in his uniform even when he was wearing it properly.

“ _What_ are you doing?” It was only kind of half shrieked. That was a normal response to seeing your lookalike in a sloppily-done uniform holding a carton of eggs, right?

“What does it look like I’m doing? I’m trying to find something to eat.” Brave put the eggs back, and pulled out a plastic container of ham slices. “There’s less in here than there is in your closet.”

Tasuku frowned. “My fridge and my closet are fine. What’s wrong with them?”

“This was the only thing in your closet, for one thing,” Brave said, gesturing at the school uniform with his free hand, “and _this_ ,” he said, lifting the ham, “is the only thing even vaguely resembling food in here. You’ve got, what, some eggs, meat, some dead veggies…” He pulled out something that looked like it had once been a plant, holding it gingerly between two fingers.

“Jack says it’s fine.” Tasuku sounded like a contrary child, but he’d never really thought about it before.

“Jack’s your dragon, right? You know he’s, y’know, a dragon.”

“What’s _that_ supposed to mean?”

“He doesn’t know what humans need. He’s not a human.” Brave paused, and stared suspiciously at something in the fridge. “Where I come from, dragons _eat_ humans.”

Deep breath. Count to ten. Brave had a perfectly good reason to not trust Jack. It’s not a personal attack on him. But this was really not the kind of morning he’d envisioned having with Brave. He’d wanted something a bit _more_ … “What do you suggest, then? We still have to eat, you know.” Tasuku paused. “And for the record, the only stuff in there for Jack is the raw fish in the freezer.”

Brave tossed the dead plant back in, followed by the ham, and then closed the fridge with a flourish. “We go out, of course. If I’d known this was all you had, maybe I wouldn’t have tried so hard to stay here last night!”

Brave’s lopsided grin said he was teasing, but something still twisted in Tasuku’s chest. Why was he getting upset about Brave joking about that? Especially after last night, when Tasuku had _wanted_ him out. He felt kind of...selfish.

Instead of ruminating on what these new emotions he had towards Brave meant, he tossed his phone over. “Fine then. But you get to decide where we’re going.”

\----------------

After digging through his room to find _something_ other than one of his uniforms, Tasuku was now wearing a simple black turtleneck sweater and, much to his chagrin, school uniform pants. At least Brave had been too busy trying to figure out how a smartphone worked to get after him for it. He’d then gotten enlisted to finish buttoning Brave’s shirt, since while they had coffee in Dungeon World, _buttons_ were still a foreign concept.

Once they were out on the street again, he felt a lot less tense. Sharing a space with someone who was so much like him, if a little bit more pushy, was a bit more stressful than Tasuku had expected. But back out in the open, where instead of picking at him, Brave looked around the city with wonder, all that tension just washed away. Maybe it was because Brave looked so much...well, _cuter_ wasn’t the right word, but…

“Have you figured out where we’re going yet?”

“Yes!” Now Brave was looking at the phone with fascination and wonder. “It even says how long it takes to walk there...this is so useful!”

Tasuku was tempted to take his phone back, but Brave was still fussing with it, trying to figure out exactly how everything on it worked. It wasn’t like there was anything embarrassing on it, other than the conversations he’d had with Stella yesterday, and there wasn’t any reason for Brave to go snooping that much when there were an entire two mobile games downloaded. Aside from the few times Tasuku had to grab Brave’s arm to haul him away from walking into someone or into the street, they followed the GPS directions all the way back to…

...the cafe they’d had breakfast at yesterday.

Brave shrugged innocently. “I liked it.”

Maybe he had gone snooping. And maybe Tasuku would die the moment Brave admitted to it.

Regardless, Tasuku took his phone back and shoved it into his pocket, and walked back into the Sweet Dreams Cafe with Brave. It still felt too cloyingly sweet for Tasuku’s tastes, but the food was good, and today the person behind the counter didn’t question why there were two kids that looked like the famous Ryuuenji Tasuku. The table they’d had yesterday was open this morning as well, and Brave snagged it before anyone else could get to it.

It was only after they sat down that Tasuku realized Brave had ordered the exact same thing as yesterday too. “Weren’t you dragging me out here because I didn’t have any vegetables?”

“Bread’s made of vegetables.” Brave shrugged and turned that radiant grin on him again, and all Tasuku could do was huff in faked anger.

Neither of them had any dreams last night, so instead they swapped work stories until what they’d ordered arrived. Tasuku felt like his stories couldn’t possibly be as interesting as the stories of someone who was a real live knight, but Brave listened attentively anyways. Instead of responding to the parts where most people did, to the parts where Tasuku always heroically won, he’d ask about the monsters involved or any civilians that had gotten endangered. Now he had to work to fill in blanks he’d almost forgotten about, but it was nice, having someone else care about those who had _really_ been in danger too.

“So,” Tasuku asked, during a break after a story about grain monsters, “why did you come all the way to Earth to visit me?”

The question had clearly caught Brave off guard, and he coughed, not quite looking at Tasuku. “Who ever said I came to visit you specifically? Was it that pretty lady who’s with the police? Because I’m definitely _not_ \--”

“Who was it, again,” Tasuku said, feeling awfully smug, “that threw a fit last night because he didn’t want to be separated for a night? Who was it that said he came here just to visit me?”

Brave pouted overdramatically, “It’s not like I came _just_ for you. I, uh, I have some other stuff to do here too. Yeah.”

“Sure.” This place was a good place for Brave to get flustered in. But Tasuku really had been wondering why anyone would make the long trip between worlds just to meet him. It wasn’t like he was a celebrity in other worlds, after all, and Brave clearly had all the fame for the both of them back in Dungeon World. He knew Brave had apparently seen him on Earth TV before, but why would that be enough for someone to go out of their way to travel between dimensions?

Kuguru’s words echoed into his head again-- _he likes you_ \--and he shook them off. He still didn’t see why Brave would like _him_.

“Maybe I just wanted to check out what the one person on Earth as legendary as me was up to. It takes a lot to grab my attention, I’ll have you know, so you better feel special.” Brave was smiling, the same way he did when he told a joke, but his words had some sort of weight behind them that Tasuku couldn’t identify the source of. “Would you believe me if I said that?”

“Hmm. Maybe.” The next words were out of Tasuku’s mouth before he could think about them. “I think if I’d heard of you before you came here, I would’ve wanted to meet you too.”

Now _that_ caught Brave off guard. He looked like he hadn’t even considered Tasuku thinking the same thing as him. He set his drink on the table and stared into Tasuku’s eyes, suddenly much more serious. “...Well, the truth is, I--”

The sound of glass shattering cut his words off, and both of them were out of their seats in a heartbeat, dashing towards the sound--someone in a mask had broken through the full-length windows at the front of the cafe. Tasuku paused for just a moment, trying to identify any particular weapons or threats while some small part of his brain contemplated what a _cliche_ the mask was, but Brave didn’t hesitate. He closed the distance between him and the criminal-hopeful, grabbed them by the arm and pulled, and before Tasuku could really process what had happened, Brave had them face-down on the ground, arm twisted painfully behind their back.

“Better not move, alright?” There was a cocky grin on Brave’s face, and something about the entire scene made Tasuku feel...fluttery inside. “You should feel honored you got taken down by a legendary hero like me.”

The cops were properly called, and Tasuku hung back while Brave talked to them. Obviously he’d seen criminal takedowns before, but Brave was so confident and did it so effortlessly and didn’t worry about what the dangers were and he was absolutely everything Tasuku wanted to be. It made sense, really, since in Dungeon World he had to be facing the kind of threats that you had to react to without thinking things through first. His instincts, his confidence, his physical strength, mental fortitude, analytical skills--everything about him was top notch. He could never say it to Brave’s face, lest never being able to live it down, but he deserved the title of legendary hero. Legends were the kind of thing that stuck with you your entire life once you heard about them, and Tasuku was certain he’d never be able to forget anything about Brave.

\----------------

The excitement was over later rather than sooner, and Tasuku practically had to drag Brave away from his new fans before people started asking too many questions about why there were _two_ Tasukus. Visitors from other worlds, such as Brave, weren’t supposed to be known as visitors from other worlds until they’d been able to form the connection that’d make them staying here actually legal, so pulling him away before he could start boasting to an entire group of people that were probably going to post about it to every single social media account they owned was for the best. When Brave complained about how it would’ve been the first step to him getting a reputation in _this_ world too, Tasuku gently reminded him of the terms of his visit, and that he’d have to be detained if he disobeyed them too much.

They wandered around the city kind of aimlessly, with Brave taking the lead, and Tasuku kind of missed when they’d walked around side by side. He liked being able to look over and see Brave’s face right there next to him, instead of having to speed up a few paces. He wasn’t sure what _that_ meant, since he didn’t really like staring at his face in the mirror for too long, and he was pretty sure if he asked Stella she’d just try to imply something weird again.

“So,” he said aloud, trying to get his mind off of that, “what were you going to say earlier?”

“Huh?” Brave turned around, now walking backwards, and at the sight of his face Tasuku’s heart skipped a little. This was getting ridiculous.

“You know, when you got interrupted by that almost-robber. You said ‘the truth is’ and then we got interrupted. What were you going to say?”

Suddenly, Brave couldn’t quite meet his eyes. “I...forgot. Now isn’t a good time, anyways.”

And he turned back around without saying anything else. 

That...hadn’t been what he’d been hoping for. Tasuku wasn’t entirely sure what he _had_ been hoping for, but it wasn’t getting brushed off like that. What wasn’t now a good time for? Kuguru’s words were now little more than a hollow comfort, although it’d taken this long for him to realize they were a comfort at all. He knew Brave cared about him, at least enough to want to visit him and stay with him, but Tasuku hadn’t realized how much he wanted Brave to...like him. _Like_ like him.

No, that couldn’t happen. He was being selfish. If Brave liked him, he’d want him to stay here on Earth and never go back to Dungeon World, but Brave had his own life there. He had things he needed to be doing, and this two-and-a-half day visit to Earth was just a small vacation for him. Besides, why would Brave like _him_ , anyways? Dungeon World was a world of heroes, and judging from how Brave talked about it, everyone in it was after his attention and his services and his hand in marriage. He could pick anyone he liked. Why would he pick Tasuku?

Brave was just ahead of him, humming a tune Tasuku didn’t recognize. Before, there’d been a real connection between them--like knowing exactly how someone thought and felt without them having to say it. Maybe that was what it meant that the two of them were the same person, just from different worlds. There’d been a closeness Tasuku had never experienced before in his life, even despite their differences, and now there was suddenly a huge distance between them. Someone from another world. Someone with a life that, Tasuku realized very abruptly, he honestly knew almost nothing about. Someone that would always be far away, even though he was close enough right now that Tasuku could reach out his hand and touch him.

Maybe this was what Stella meant when she said that relationships between worlds would never work out.

Besides, there was another problem. Brave was _him_ , from another world. Would he think it was weird if Tasuku told him how he really felt? Yesterday, he’d assured Noboru that no, Brave _wasn’t_ him, but that couldn’t be entirely true. The same name, the same looks, the same personality. Tasuku didn’t think of Brave as being the same person as him, but certainly other people would. Maybe Brave thought of them as being the same. The two of them were counterparts, each one half of a cosmic coin, and Tasuku didn’t know what Brave thought they were. What if he told him how he felt and Brave thought he was weird and narcissistic, like Noboru said he was, and he never wanted to see Tasuku again?

Tasuku took a deep breath. He was just working himself up. There was no reason to overthink this. Brave cared about him, checked up on him through scrying, wanted to visit him, wanted to _stay_ with him and be around him as long as possible, and the more he thought about it, the more he realized that at the very least, Brave wouldn’t hate him.

Maybe Tasuku would be able to tell him before he left tomorrow.

His phone buzzed in his pocket, and he pulled it out. A text message from…

“Hey,” he said, a bit weakly, but Brave still turned around. “Gao just asked me if we want to meet up at the mall for lunch again. Do you wanna go?”

Brave grinned, and Tasuku’s body suddenly filled with warmth, chasing away the chilly remnants of fear. How could he have ever thought about not wanting this kind of warmth in his life? “Sure!” 

Maybe Gao was the Sun Fighter, but Brave was filled with a light that Gao could never hope to match.

\----------------

Gao, who could perhaps work miracles, had managed to secure a table for everyone near the aquarium today too. As with yesterday, Kuguru, Baku, and Noboru were with him, and Tasuku could see a sly grin on Kuguru and Noboru’s faces as they saw him come over with Brave in tow. Of course.

“Hey! Over here!” Gao waved to them as they came over, and Brave waved back. “We haven’t decided what to get yet, so you two still have time to convince us!”

Brave laughed, and stole a seat by Baku and Gao again. Which left Tasuku to sit with the gossip-mongers again. Rather than letting them start grilling him for any info, he turned to Gao and asked, “How’s your day been? Any particular reason you wanted us to join you here?”

“Well, it’s always good to have more friends around.” Gao shrugged. “Besides, with two of you, that’d be _double_ the amount of friends.”

“Looks like _someone’s_ gonna ace our next math quiz,” Baku snarked, grinning, and Gao stuck his tongue out at the deckbuilder. “Gao here was actually just bored being around just us, so he decided to invite some slightly more famous company.”

“Oh, Baku, don’t be so rude. Gao just wanted to make sure the both of you are still having fun together.” Kuguru looked directly at Tasuku as she spoke. “But I’m sure you’ve been having a great time even on your own.”

Brave laughed. “Oh, sure. He practically can’t bear to be without me.”

“Look who’s talking.” Tasuku hit Brave with a glare, and he was acutely aware of Noboru and Kuguru staring at him. “Considering _you’re_ the one who--”

“Wow! Look at that! The topic is changing!” Brave turned back to Gao. “Any plans for anything other than this conversation to happen between now and food?”

Tasuku could feel the dastardly duo grinning at him while he stubbornly focused his attention on Gao’s reply. “Well, we could always ask the manager at Castle if we can use the stage. Anyone up for it?”

Tasuku opened his mouth to offer, even though Jack wasn’t here to support him, but Noboru beat him to the punch. “I’ll do it. And,” he said, flicking a gaze at Brave, “you better use your Dungeon World deck.”

“Oh, oh! If you’re using Dungeon World, you’ll want me fighting alongside you!” Brave turned his grin on Gao.

“Of course!” Gao stood and offered a hand to Brave, and...there was that selfish little twinge inside Tasuku’s chest again. “Will you join me in my deck? If, uh...that’s not a weird thing to ask? I’ve never talked too much with monsters that weren’t already part of my deck.”

“Nah.” Brave took Gao’s hand and got pulled up, and the sight made Tasuku want to stand up and call off the match before it could start. But he didn’t have any good reasons so he just sat there, eyes fixed on their hands until they let go. “Let’s get everything set up so we can beat this nerd at his own game.”

The overconfident trio squabbled easily amongst themselves as they went to ask for permission to use the stage, and Baku agreed to watch their hard earned table while Kuguru and Tasuku went up to the balcony to watch. Tasuku would’ve been perfectly happy staying with Baku and not having Kuguru watching him like a hawk, but he couldn’t pass up a chance to see Brave doing what he did best. Permission was granted, and Tasuku watched from the balcony as Gao and Brave entered the elevator together, and as only Gao came out on the stage. He felt kind of silly for it, but without Brave around, he--

“Missing him already?” Kuguru smiled at him angelically.

“No! I wasn’t even thinking about him.” An outright lie, and he was pretty sure she could tell. “I just haven’t had that many chances to see Kitten Shirt--I mean, Noboru fight. I don’t know what kind of matchup this is.”

“Oh, Noboru’s pretty good. He’s been the second-ranked fighter in our grade, even before he got his very own Buddy monster. Now that he’s got someone to tell him when his strategy isn’t working, he’s even better!” She grinned mischievously, eyes on the fighters. “Gao might have a tough time here. Dragon knights are awfully fast.”

Noboru had the first turn, and called a warrior on a shining white dragon with kind of skeletal wings. “Dragon Knight Kagekiyo, attack the fighter!”

“Oh, that’s smart.” Tasuku turned to Kuguru, and she smiled. “Kagekiyo can go to Noboru’s gauge when he’s destroyed. You don’t pay much attention to cards you can’t use, hmm?” She giggled when Tasuku frowned at her. “I’m not insulting you. It’s a testament to your devotion to your deck!”

The turn passed to Gao, and Tasuku could hardly hide his disappointment when Brave wasn’t among the cards he called. Instead, one that looked like the grumpy deckbuilder and one that looked like Gao’s dancing friend appeared on the stage, and Gao himself took on a sword and shield.

“Why do you think there are people in Dungeon World that look like the people we know?” Tasuku watched as the dragon knight dissolved into cards from an initial link attack. “Like, why us, specifically?”

Kuguru shrugged. “I guess I never really thought about it before. I’ve seen Gao use this deck enough times, sure, and he even has a card that looks like me! But I guess until you showed up yesterday toting around _the_ Legendary Brave, Tasuku around, it never really hit me that those are...us.”

A blue flash filled the stage as Noboru guarded another link attack with a shield. “Do you think they really are us?”

Kuguru didn’t speak for a few moments, watching the movements of the fight. Noboru mounted a dragon of his own, becoming like the knights he commanded, and as he called El Quixote and another knight, she said, “I don’t know. I think if I hadn’t seen the two of you, I’d think so. You two really are very similar in a lot of ways, but also really different. If someone asked me if the two of you were the same person, I’d tell them no.”

“...how do you think we’re different?” He was genuinely curious what this girl he’d barely talked to would say.

“Well, for _one_ thing,” she said and rounded on him, hands defiantly on her hips, “ _he_ smiles a lot more than you do.”

Before Tasuku could retort, Noboru’s battle cry cut him off, and they turned back to the stage. His attack with Hyperion hit, and Gao was now under half his starting life in just the third turn, compared to Noboru’s eleven. Tasuku was starting to get a little worried Noboru would win before Brave even took the stage.

The turn passed again, and once more, Brave wasn’t called to field. Tasuku had heard the word “brave” and perked up, but it’d been a Buddycall, and now Drum Bunker Dragon was on the field. “Who do you think is going to win? You’re the mighty analyst, right?”

“Hmm?” She tilted her head, probably going over stats and hand comparisons and gauge comparisons and what cards had already been seen on the field, and then nodded to herself. “Noboru, probably. In another turn or so, I’d say.”

“What? What about Gao?”

“It’s just a difference in deckbuilding. With Gao, his deck was made so he could pull off whatever big stunt he needs to win, but Noboru’s is built so every single card he draws has a use. If Gao isn’t lucky enough, or if everything doesn’t line up just perfectly, his deck will fall through.” Kuguru put a hand delicately to her cheek. “And that kind of looks like what’s going on here.”

Tasuku stared at the match. Noboru used a counterspell to destroy the Dancing Magician, protecting his center, but still ended up eating a total of six damage from Drum and Gao’s attacks. He couldn’t see anything unusual about what was going on in the match, but then, he’d never even tried to analyze a match before.

Kuguru sniffed. “I can sense you doubting me. I’ll have you know, I know their decks backwards and forwards and even better than they do. Even better than their deckbuilders, I bet. An analyst’s job is to know every aspect of the game--a player’s cards, a player’s skill level, even a player’s natural inherent luck is something I’ve had to memorize. I know all about Gao, of course, and all about his regular opponents and any fighters that show up on the news a lot. You, Mr. Ryuuenji, could draw a starting hand right now, and I’m sure I’d be able to tell you exactly what six cards are in it.”

There was...an odd aura of competition coming from Kuguru. Tasuku felt pretty certain that if she ever picked up a deck of her own, she’d be a terrifying fighter with that kind of analytical ability. Maybe she’d be a good Magic World player, or maybe play something really gimmicky to put her skills to the test.

It was Noboru’s turn again, and according to Kuguru’s predictions, maybe the last one of the match. Gao still had three cards in his hand, but judging from the look on Noboru’s face, he was getting ready to push for game.

“To the left, I call Dragon Knight, Hartman, and with El Quixote and then Hartman, I attack the fighter!”

Gao shielded himself with his arms, but the attacks still shaved his life down to one. Tasuku wanted Gao to win, or at least, to not lose this turn--sure, he wanted Gao as his friend to win, but even more than that…

“I cast! Divine Protection of Shalsana! Your attack is negated, and I regain one life.” Noboru’s lance was knocked away by the goddess’s protection, but his turn still wasn’t over.

“Final phase.” Noboru thrust the tip of his lance into the sky, suddenly a commanding presence. “Knights stand arm in arm, and only by working together can they achieve their true power. I cast Dragon Cavalry Arts, Ultimate Smash!”

Everything on Gao’s field shattered--his item and his buddy were lost. But Gao’s grin just widened. “I cast again! O lady of the night, shield me!” Gao thrust a card in front of him. “Quiescence of Cassiade. I take no damage, and Drum’s Soulguard lets him come back!”

Gao’s dragon reformed, and Noboru settled back on his side of the stage, looking rather annoyed. “Fine. In that case, I cast Dragon Cavalry Arts, The Glorious Legacy. I draw three cards and end my turn.”

Tasuku let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. Gao had managed to survive, but very narrowly. There was only one card left in his hand. Two, once he drew.

“He needs to win this turn,” Kuguru said simply, and she was completely correct. Gao just didn’t have the resources to survive for much longer.

On the stage, Gao took a deep breath. “To the left, I call...the one, the only, Legendary Brave, Tasuku!”

Tasuku perked up immediately as Brave took form on the stage. _Finally_. He looked...like the knight he was supposed to be. Sure, he had on his armor now, curving silver and blue and black plates that shined in the light, but even more it was in how comfortably he wore it, how comfortably he held his sword, how at home he looked on the battlefield. This was the regal knight Tasuku had gotten glimpses of, the one who could command armies with the simplest of commands.

He was the most beautiful thing Tasuku had ever seen in his entire life.

Brave turned to him and waved excitedly, shattering the image, and Tasuku waved back, more demurely. “I’m gonna win this for you!” Brave shouted, pointing at Tasuku, and people were staring at him again. Jeez.

“Oh, dear. We might have a problem.” Kuguru’s voice ripped him out of his reverie. “It’s those cards Noboru drew last turn. If I know him and his deck--which I do--he’s going to have enough counterspells to survive. No matter what happens, Gao will only attack twice this turn. It...might not be enough.”

Tasuku’s heart fell. He watched, silently, as Gao cast a draw spell and equipped another Glory Seeker. He didn’t want to watch Brave fail. Drum attacked and was destroyed by a counterspell, just as Kuguru predicted. Brave and Gao crossed their blades, and Kuguru elbowed him in the side. “At least cheer for him!”

Gao and Brave attacked, and as Noboru’s hand moved to his cards, Tasuku shouted to the stage, waving wildly at Brave, “I believe in you! You’re going to win!”

Noboru glanced up at him, and his hand dropped. The knight protecting him fell to their swords, and Noboru did nothing as Brave slashed through him, followed by a stab from Gao. Noboru’s remaining life faded to nothing, and...the match was over.

Brave had won.

Kuguru sent him off with a wave as Tasuku dashed down the stairs, trying to get to the elevator doors before they opened. Noboru had thrown the match, and he’d thrown it because he’d heard Tasuku cheering. The least he could do to honor something like that was celebrate like it hadn’t happened, and not bring attention to it. Maybe Brave or Gao had picked up on it, but as long as no one pointed it out, no one would have to start asking questions about _why_ he’d done it.

The elevator opened at the base, and Brave and Gao were waiting for him. Gao looked like he was about to say something, but Brave, back in the simple shirt and pants he’d stolen from Tasuku’s room, his stupid sunglasses sitting on top of his head again, was the only one Tasuku had eyes for. He was smiling like everything was good in the world, and for once, Tasuku had to agree. “Did you see that? You were watching, right? I won!”

“You won!” Tasuku wanted to reach out and grab Brave’s hands and squeeze them tight, but he didn’t want to make this what it wasn’t. “You won...for me.”

“That’s right!” Brave had no such reservations, and took Tasuku’s hands in his own. Warm and strong and a little bit bigger than Tasuku’s, and he could feel the callouses on the palms that came with regular swordplay. Tasuku’s heart felt like it was about to burst out of his chest, and he held Brave’s hands tightly. “My first victory in honor of you. Better start getting used to it now, o prince.”

Tasuku hated that nickname he’d gotten from the media. He hated being put on a pedestal, seen as somehow _better_ for just doing the job he was supposed to be doing. But when Brave called him that, it didn’t feel like he was being somehow _othered_. Princes and knights and royalty were all just day-to-day life for him. According to Brave yesterday, a prince was someone you fought for, protected, stayed close with. Not someone who got put up high over everyone else and didn’t get to be a normal person anymore. “I think I’ll be able to manage that somehow.”

Gao had stepped off to the side, politely pretending like he wasn’t listening to their conversation, and Kuguru and Baku weren’t around. No one was trying to grab their attention, and no one was going to interrupt them. The words were on the tip of Tasuku’s tongue and if only he could just _get them out_ , tell Brave right now about everything, but he hesitated, just like this morning. He couldn’t say anything.

But Brave could. “I need to tell you something. I need to tell you that I--”

“Hey!”

Noboru’s voice cut him off, and Brave swore darkly under his breath. He dropped one of Tasuku’s hands as he turned to face the other fighter, but still stubbornly held onto the other one. Noboru glanced at their joined hands, and didn’t say anything about it. Brave, to his credit, managed to put a smile back on his face. “Nice fight. Betcha really thought you had us, didn’t you?”

“Oh, _please_. Any other day and I wouldn’t stomped both of you flat.”

“I know you would’ve.” That was the only acknowledgment they made of what’d happened at the end of the fight. “But you still didn’t win this time! Better luck next time around, kiddo.”

Noboru scowled and they started sniping at each other, but Tasuku just squeezed Brave’s hand, smiling. Maybe he hadn’t been able to say it just yet, but this was good enough for now.

\----------------

They kept holding hands all through the rest of their time spent talking with Gao and friends, and all through lunch, even though it would’ve been a lot easier to do anything if they’d both had two hands free. None of Gao’s friends pointed it out, which was a small mercy--Tasuku didn’t know why Brave was clinging to his hand so tightly, and any awkward questions would probably have led to Brave asking Tasuku why _he_ didn’t let go, and he really didn’t want to tell Brave how he felt with an audience.

But no one said anything about it, not even Brave. The distance Tasuku had been so worried about felt like it had closed up a little bit.

They kept holding hands after they left the mall to continue their sightseeing adventure, but something seemed a bit...off about Brave. For one thing, he’d stopped being completely enraptured by the cityscape, and had his eyes firmly pointed towards some unknowable point in the distance. Sure, he was still clinging to Tasuku’s hand, but he didn’t seem particularly happy about it.

Maybe it had something to do with whatever Brave had tried to say again. What could he want to say to Tasuku so badly it’d put him in a mood like this? It couldn’t be anything good.

For a few brief moments, as they walked together, Tasuku briefly considered letting go of Brave’s hand. After all, it was entirely possible that the he was only putting up with it because Tasuku was refusing to let go. But then the idea passed, and Tasuku was left feeling guiltily selfish once more. He wanted to hold onto it--both onto Brave’s hand, and onto this feeling of closeness and warmth that he felt so wrapped up in--and he wanted to hold onto it for as long as he possibly could. There wasn’t any reason for him to give it up just yet, as long as Brave wasn’t complaining.

He squeezed Brave’s hand gently, and Brave looked over at him. “Something up?”

“Oh, uh.” Think fast. “I was wondering if there’s any particular place you wanted to check out now.”

“I dunno.” Brave shrugged. “Anywhere you wanna go?”

“Well…” Tasuku thought for a moment. “I...think there’s an arcade around here? I’ve heard Gao talk about it before, so that might be fun.”

“Arcade?”

Tasuku explained the concept of arcades as they walked, and Brave didn’t interject with as many questions as he might’ve if he’d been in a better mood. But he did softly run his thumb over the back of Tasuku’s hand, and maybe it was just something done absentmindedly, but it was a silent reassurance that set his mind at ease. There wasn’t any point in overthinking things.

The arcade itself was...a little bit more overwhelming than Tasuku had anticipated. He’d never actually been to one before, and this one was darkened, with the only light coming from the glass doors and fluorescent neon lamps and flickering game screens. The roof was low and it was loud and chaotic and claustrophobic, and even though there were so many people in there, it still felt like they were on their own. Maybe it was _because_ there were so many people--everyone was so absorbed in what they were doing, it was like they were the only two people in the entire building.

Tasuku finally had to let go of Brave’s hand while he bought them tokens at the counter, but Brave didn’t really seem to mind, since he was staring wide-eyed at everything around him. The arcade’s hustle and bustle was on a completely different level from the mall, and the bright flashy lights seem to have gotten him spellbound. It was...probably a lot to take in, for someone who lived in a world that still lived in tiny villages and castles.

“Are you doing okay?”

“Uh…” Brave was still enraptured by everything around him, until he shook his head and looked right into Tasuku’s eyes again. “Yes. We’re in the right place, right?”

There was something about being surrounded by co-op games that got Tasuku feeling competitive, and he grinned at Brave. “What, too much for you?”

“Of course not!” Brave returned the grin, and Tasuku felt like they were back in familiar territory again. “Let’s go play some games already.”

The first one they picked was one of those two-player ones where you shoot zombies or whatever horrid enemy the developers decided to put you up against. Brave peered suspiciously at the guns hooked up to the cabinet while Tasuku put the coins in the machine, and he picked one up gingerly. “Is this...safe?”

“What? Of course it is.”

“Don’t these things make people’s heads explode?”

Tasuku almost laughed. “Did you watch a zombie flick before coming here? Besides, these are fake guns. Kids play these games.” He picked the other one up, aimed it at his head, and pulled the trigger. “See? No big boom.”

Brave still held his fake gun cautiously, like it was going to bite him or something, but once the game actually _started_ , he was doing just fine. Better than fine, actually. In fact, after the first round, he had a better score than Tasuku did. He turned that smug grin at Tasuku, while Tasuku frowned at his gun. “These aren’t working right. Why is this so hard?”

“You did say it’s for kids, right? I’m assuming they mean regular average kids with no police training that’ve never held a gun in their entire lives.”

Tasuku frowned at Brave, who just smiled wider, and he huffed. “Fine. Let’s play something else.”

Next up was, after a bit of a wait since there was a line, what Tasuku had come to understand was an arcade’s true central experience--Dance Dance Revolution. They stepped up onto the game pads, multiplayer was chosen, and a random song chosen--Tasuku certainly didn’t know what any of them were, and Brave obviously didn’t either--and the competition began. It _probably_ would’ve gone better if either of them had ever danced before in their lives.

“You’re not doing very good at this,” Brave commented innocently.

“Look who’s talking,” Tasuku shot back, once again weighing the pros and cons of tripping Brave, but this time with an audience.

They both did horribly, even on easy, and Task scowled at the screen as he hit the random song button again. The _one thing_ he had a reputation for was not ever losing to anyone. He was _not_ going to get defeated by a stupid song machine.

They played, round after round, until the both of them were finally starting to get the hang of it, and Tasuku even saw himself get more than two perfects in a row. He was now able to get a solid B ranking on songs he’d never heard before in his life, and he could probably justify the expense of how much they’d played to Stella as increasing his mobile dexterity or something. Brave was doing his best, but he was still making his movements too big, and there was a certain sense of satisfaction in watching him not do as well. Revenge for being better at a shooting game.

Their competition continued until someone in the line that’d started forming behind them shouted at them to go away already, and they slunk off to go look at what to play next.

Brave was due to pick next, and he looked around the arcade, looking frustrated. “I’ll be better than you next time we play that one. Just you watch!”

“There’s gonna be a next time, huh? Planning on coming back to Earth sometime, then?” There was a hopeful edge to Tasuku’s voice that he hoped the din of the arcade would muffle.

“Of course I’m gonna be coming back! It’s so much fun here! And where else would I get to spend time with you?”

Brave wasn’t looking at him, his eyes still caught by the flashing lights, but Tasuku wanted to grab his hand again, wait for Brave to look at _him_ , catch those shining crimson eyes and tell him that he never wanted Brave to leave. But, just like before, he hesitated, and the moment passed as Brave bounced forward towards a vacant game cabinet.

Maybe if they ended up playing one of those games that gave out tickets, and he got enough for one of the big prizes, he’d be able to do it. He could give Brave a present and then just spit it out already.

\----------------

Naturally, nothing went according to plan. The both of them were only kind of mediocre at the rest of the games they tried, and any tickets they got were enough for maybe some candy up at the prize stand. Definitely not enough for Tasuku to be able to actually say anything. What was he supposed to do, present Brave with a bouquet of three lollipops and say “Hey, I like you a lot”? Because that was just pathetic.

They’d given up as school-age kids started filtering out and older teens started coming in, a sign of how late it was getting, so they’d left before Tasuku’s onhand cash ran out. Now they were just aimlessly wandering in the direction of Tasuku’s apartment again, and Tasuku was the one feeling frustrated this time. He’d had a plan, he’d had the perfect way to set everything up, and yet it _still_ hadn’t worked out. How was he going to do this before Brave left?

Brave’s hand was criminally close to his, but he didn’t feel confident enough to reach out and take it, even when Brave’s fingers brushed against his own. He would’ve loved to have had Brave’s initiative, the ability to just _do things_ and not have them blow up in his face or have the chance slip away before he could act on it. At the very least, he hoped how irritated he was didn’t show on his face--Tasuku definitely didn’t want Brave thinking he was upset with him.

“So,” he managed to force out, the same stupid opener he used when he wanted to take his mind off of something, “where do you want to eat? It’s starting to get late, and I think you’d object if I said we should just go home.”

Brave shrugged. “I dunno. Somewhere quick and easy? It’s been a long day.”

“Burger joint? It’ll be both of those things.”

“Sure!” He said it in that particular tone he used whenever he was agreeing to do something he didn’t know anything about. Well, trips to Earth _were_ supposed to be educational…

They didn’t talk very much on the walk to the burger place near Tasuku’s apartment, but Tasuku wasn’t sure what he could say anyways. That was how he usually felt around people, not sure what to say that wouldn’t make him sound like the out-of-touch workaholic that he was, but feeling like that around Brave after they’d spent almost all their time together talking about anything that crossed their minds was…

At least the walk wasn’t very long, and even if they weren’t talking, having Brave next to him was nice. Comforting, Tasuku supposed, but in a different way than when he had Jack next to him. Besides, when they got there, he got to see one of his favorite things--the look on Brave’s face when he went someplace new. That look of wonderment seemed so out of place in a cheap fast food place, but it still made Tasuku smile.

“Can you grab us a table while I go and order for us?”

The interior was a lot more brightly colored than the cafe’s had been, and had art on the walls, some of which looked like it’d been made by a handful of ten year olds with chalk, and it was vibrant and busy and loud like the arcade, but with actual lighting. It was the best of both worlds, and Brave sat himself at a table, perfectly content to stare at the art on the walls while Tasuku got their food.

He felt pretty confident in being able to order for Brave, and he was not disappointed when their number got called and he brought back their burgers. Tasuku’s own was what he usually got--cheeseburger with everything--but Brave’s was piled high with meat and cheese and nothing else, and much to Tasuku’s relief, Brave nodded at it approvingly. “Looks like a proper warrior’s meal,” he said, whatever _that_ meant, and tore into it ravenously.

They regained their mood from earlier, chatting about the fight earlier and the arcade and what their favorite games had been, and as the sky quickly darkened outside the window behind Brave, Tasuku felt even more pressed for time. But it wasn’t like he could say anything _here_ either--what kind of lousy place was this for something so important?

“Looks like you’re doing better after eating,” Brave said around his straw (he’d objected so strongly to soda that Tasuku’d had to get him a lemonade instead) and tilted his head. “Did something get you riled up at the arcade?”

“Oh, not really. Just was hoping to win more.” Win a certain someone’s heart, that is. “I’m sure you understand that one.”

Brave shrugged, grinning. “Well, whatever the case, it’s good to see you smiling again. What kinda knight would I be if I couldn’t keep my prince-to-be happy?”

“Excuse me, I don’t think I see any princes around here.”

Brave laughed, and Tasuku felt...a little bit emboldened by getting called a prince again. Was this how he was supposed to feel when his fans called him that? He felt fluttery inside, and like if he did something right now, everything would work out exactly how he wanted to.

So he stood up and looked Brave right in the eyes and said, “Do you want to go stargazing with me?”

\----------------

From the final fifth floor of Tasuku’s apartment building, there was another staircase leading up onto the roof, where the landlord had apparently tried to have a garden once but had given up. The door to the stairs in question was always locked, and no one was allowed up there usually, but on occasion Tasuku and Jack had flown up there to lay down and stare at the stars as thin wisps of cloud danced back and forth in front of them. But Jack wasn’t here right now, so instead of being able to fly up from a window, they’d have to do this a little bit differently.

Brave, holding all the blankets and pillows they could find in the apartment, was looking pretty impressed while Tasuku picked the lock. “Where’d you learn to do that?”

“Unlike the regular police force, we actually have to be _subtle_ sometimes.” Tasuku glanced back over his shoulder at the hall, praying that no one would be coming home anytime soon. He didn’t know the schedule of anyone living on this floor, and the boy wonder prodigy fighter _Prince of Buddyfight Ryuuenji Tasuku_ getting caught breaking and entering definitely wasn’t something he needed to have happen. Stressful as his fame was, he _did_ have a reputation he needed to uphold.

The lock quickly relented under hands that were possibly a _bit_ too good at this, and Tasuku quickly shuffled Brave in and closed the door behind them. They climbed the stairs up to the roof, stepping over a few puddles from the last rain, and the night air was pleasantly cool, not too warm, not too cold. Around them, lights from the street and still-open businesses and the taller glass towers glittered like stars, but the real show was still much farther above--how the real stars could still shine so well over a city that was lit up day and night was a mystery, but not one Tasuku minded too much.

Brave dumped the blankets on the ground, and they soon had a nice little nest set up for the two of them--pillows on the ground so they weren’t sitting on hard cement, and layers of blankets around them so none of the night chill could get to them. They were sitting close, but not quite close enough to touch. Not yet. Tasuku’s eyes were on Brave and Brave’s eyes were on the sky, as fascinated with the shining points of light that surely he’d seen countless times before as if they were as new to him as neon lighting or cellphones.

“They’re different from the ones back home,” Brave said, answering Tasuku’s unspoken question. “You’ve got different constellations.”

“I guess it makes sense, since we’re from completely different dimensions.” Sitting this close, he could feel how warm Brave was, and Tasuku had half a mind to hug him again, like how Brave had hugged him last night, but...he needed to be focused. “I...I have something I need to tell you.”

“Yeah?” Brave turned and looked to him, and in the light from all around them and silver moonlight from above, he looked...radiant. Somehow otherworldly, although of course, he _was_.

“I…” Deep breath. He could do this. It was just three words. “I...well. I really...I-I like you.”

Brave smiled and said, “I like you too! Being able to spend time with you these two days has been great.”

“No! I mean, no, I don’t mean like that.” Another deep breath. He could do this. Brave was looking right at him. His stomach felt like it had turned into knots. “I mean...I _like_ you. A lot. I keep thinking about how much I want you to...to stay here, with _me_ , and not have to go back to your own world. I keep thinking about how much I like seeing you smile and hearing you laugh and how much I like standing next to you and…” Everything he’d been thinking about since last night just started pouring out of him in a rush, words he hadn’t been able to get out finally escaping him. “You’re always so confident and sure of yourself and you can do anything without hesitating or worrying, and--and you’re so _warm_ , your hands are warm, hugging you is warm, every word you say makes me feel warm inside. I--”

Brave cut him off with a laugh, and Tasuku would’ve been offended if Brave’s hand wasn’t suddenly on his. “I know what you meant, promise. I just wanted to hear what you’d say.” The very familiar urge to smack Brave was dashed when he leaned his forehead against Tasuku’s, still looking deep into his eyes. “Because I like you too!”

Tasuku just kind of sat there, too surprised to say anything, but Brave just kept talking.

“I...honestly, I tried to tell you a few times today. This morning, at the cafe, and then...after I won that match at the mall. But that was the whole reason I came here, you know? I told you I’d seen you on TV via scrying, right? Well...the first time, it’d been an accident. I was, y’know, checking out people on Earth, trying to see if there was anyone out there that really leapt out at me as being worthy of someone as amazing as myself and...one of these kids was watching TV, watching one of your fights against a criminal, and…” He chuckled. “I guess I wouldn’t call it love at first sight, since falling for someone who looks just like you as soon as you see them is narcissism even _I’m_ not capable of, but watching you like that, so confident and in control, thinking everything through, watching what you did all line up like some sorta chess game that your opponent couldn’t fight against...I think that was when it was. It was only one fight, but…

“Well, shameful though it may be, after that whenever I was free I’d try to find someone who was watching your fights, or your interviews, or updating their weird posts on your fansites...and you were amazing.” Brave took a deep breath and squeezed Tasuku’s hand. “You mentioned how something you like about me is how I charge into things without thinking anything through? The flipside is something I like about _you_ \--you think things through before you do them and you don’t let yourself get riled up by the people you’re fighting. You even know how to keep your temper under control, which is something I’ve never been able to do. You’re always so... _cool_.”

“Y-you think I’m cool?” Tasuku stumbled over the words, his heart pounding a thousand miles an hour. He couldn’t even think of what else to say but that.

“I think you’re the _coolest!_ And...that’s why I came here. I came here so I could visit you and spend time with you and just...be around you. I guess maybe somewhere I was hoping that my little visit would turn out exactly like this.” He laughed, and sat back, looking up at the sky again. “Although I think maybe I came off too strong when we first met? You didn’t seem too pleased.”

“I…” Memories of Brave throwing his arm around Tasuku’s shoulders and pulling him close rushed into his mind, and they somehow felt so long ago, even though it’d happened just yesterday. “You called me a work of art.”

“And I was being completely honest! There’s so much about you to like, how could I not?”

“But...but.” Stammering in front of Brave--the person he likes-- _the person who likes him back_ \--was not fun, but what else could he do? “I...I don’t know. It...kind of sounds fake.”

“What, shooting me down already?” Brave said it good-naturedly enough, but he had a point. “I mean, we are really similar. Pretty much anything you like about me is something you _are_.”

“But…”

“No buts!”

“But you’re _pretty_.”

Brave blinked at him, and then burst into laughter. He leaned his forehead against Tasuku’s again, smiling so...tenderly. “ _You’re_ pretty. I’ve thought so since I first saw you.”

Back when Kuguru had said to Tasuku that he and Brave looked the same, he honestly hadn’t quite been able to believe her. But hearing it from _Brave_ was completely different. The idea that Brave could look at Tasuku and see all the things he saw in Brave made his chest feel tight--that he saw the same light in Tasuku’s smile and the shape of his face and how he held himself and how his curl danced in the wind and a hundred little other tiny details that Tasuku could see so clearly in his mind when he thought about Brave--all of them were things Brave saw in Tasuku. It seemed surreal, somehow--that he could be compared like that to who he thought was the prettiest, most wonderful person he’d ever met.

But it also made Tasuku feel really warm inside.

“Fine. Maybe we’re both pretty.”

“You’re prettier.”

“You’re prettier...er.”

“You’re prettier _est_. Ha!”

Tasuku couldn’t help laughing, covering his mouth with his free hand as was habit, and Brave’s grin grew even wider. “That’s the first time I’ve heard you laugh while I’ve been here.”

“Is it?”

“And guess what? I think your laugh is pretty too.”

\----------------

They sat together under the stars in a comfortable silence for what felt like an eternity, gently resting against each other, hands intertwined, and Tasuku felt genuinely warm and safe for the first time in...a long time. And he felt giddy--like he wanted to launch himself off the edge of the building and just how happy he was would be enough to keep him aloft while he shouted to the whole city about who was making him so happy. Tell the whole city about Brave. Tell the whole world about him. _Every_ world! Why stop with Earth when every single world out there could know about how Brave just sitting with him like this made Tasuku feel like he was floating ten feet off the ground?

But eventually he started nodding off, and falling asleep out in the cold wasn’t a good plan. So he sadly had to inform Brave that it was time for them to sleep, and Brave, classy as always, yawned in agreement. If Tasuku was being honest with himself, he would’ve been perfectly happy to fall asleep outside here with Brave--no one would be around to interrupt them until the sun rose to its peak, and there was nothing he wanted more than to wake up and see Brave right there next to him.

But instead he just did his part in gathering up all the blankets and pillows, once again stubbornly refusing to let go of Brave’s hand, even if it wasn’t making anything easier for either of them. But Brave held on just as tightly, and it felt good to look at their intertwined fingers and know for sure that this was everything Brave wanted too. Tasuku fumbled with the doorknob back down into the building, and had to kick the door shut behind them, but it was worth it to keep their hands together.

Sadly, they had to let go eventually, since the nightly routine called. Tasuku went through his at double speed, and went around putting blankets and pillows back where they were supposed to be while Brave showered. They’d even dissected Jack’s nest for this, and trying to arrange Jack’s blankets back into a suitable looking dragon nest was a lot harder than it looked. He even had to remake his bed completely, since if his blankets weren’t exactly set up right he couldn’t get to sleep, and only after he’d finished all the labor did Brave come into the bedroom, swaying on his feet. He yawned, and Tasuku gracefully offered him the bed--although he was feeling how Brave looked.

Tonight, Tasuku took the inner edge again, but this time he didn’t feel like he had to shove himself into the wall. Instead, his head securely on their shared pillow, he let himself lay back-to-back with Brave--just close enough for him to still feel the same warmth and safety he felt when they’d been curled up together under the stars, and just slight enough that he could fall asleep without feeling weird.

Not that he really wanted to sleep. The clock had read past midnight when they’d come back to his apartment, and maybe if he never slept, he never had to face that today was the day Brave had to go back home.


	3. Chapter 3

Something was shaking him--for a few seconds Tasuku thought maybe they were getting hit by an earthquake, but there was a voice along with it, and it wasn’t nearly harsh enough to be a real quake. He blearily blinked open his eyes, and above him was a face he’d seen often enough in the mirror, red eyes and smooth blue hair that started to curl gently where it was longest, and for a second Tasuku thought he was still dreaming. But no, that couldn’t quite be right, the look on this face wasn’t one he’d ever seen himself make before--  


“Come on, you need to wake up.” Brave was gently shaking Tasuku by the arm, and all he could think about was how this was a much nicer wake up call than Jack had ever given him. Tasuku grumbled something sleepily up at Brave, who just frowned at him. “Don’t be like that! We’re on an actual schedule today, you know.”

Tasuku grumbled again, but sat up, yawning. “What time is it?”

“Uh…” Brave peered through the blinds up into the sky, and the light smacked Tasuku directly in the face. “I’d say a few hours before noon. You sleep pretty heavily.”

Noon...something was happening today at noon, but he wasn’t awake enough to think of what that was yet. Instead what kept running through his mind was pulling Brave down into bed again, hugging him tight, and that surely had to be a remnant from a _really_ embarrassing dream. Above him, Brave was looking like some sort of impatient PTA mom with his hands on his hips, and they likely would’ve stayed at this stalemate if Brave hadn’t reached down and taken one of Tasuku’s hands in his.

A sudden rush of energy punched Tasuku in the gut. “Okay. Yes. I’m awake now.”

Brave laughed, and pulled Tasuku to his feet. “I never would’ve pegged you for a slow starter. How do you deal with work mornings?”

“If my alarm doesn’t go off I don’t need to get up.” Tasuku looked down at their hands. “Last night...wasn’t a dream.”

“I’d hope not. That would mean I told my most embarrassing secrets for nothing!” Tasuku finally noticed what Brave was wearing--he was back in his stupid floral shirt, the one he’d been wearing when he first came to Earth. Brave led him around by the hand to the pile of clothes while what that meant processed in Tasuku’s mind. _Oh_.

“Today’s the day you--”

“Yeah.”

The silence was heavy. If Tasuku hadn’t wanted Brave to leave before, after their little heart-to-heart last night the thought of seeing him go was almost physically painful, making his chest tight in a way that wasn’t nearly as nice as how it felt when Brave smiled at him. For a moment, Tasuku mentally reviewed what was and wasn’t allowed in regards to how long visiting monsters could stay--but he came up blank. There were no extensions, unless they found someone to bond with. And thanks to Jack, Tasuku was already off the market. There...really wasn’t anything he could do, unless he wanted to become a wanted fugitive for monster smuggling at the tender age of thirteen.

He’d have to wear his uniform today, since he’d have to go to HQ, and he glumly kicked through the pile of clothes by his bed looking for it. What could he say? What could he do? He’d _finally_ told Brave everything, and now, in just a few hours, he’d be gone again.

“Then…” Tasuku couldn’t quite look at Brave, but he squeezed his hand tight. “Let’s make the rest of your time here as fun as we can.”

\----------------

Their first stop of the morning was the cafe they’d gone to the last two days--as embarrassing as it’d been the first time they went there, it was now the perfect kind of atmosphere. Maybe Stella _had_ been onto something when she’d recommended it. She’d already been right about everything else. Tasuku would have to text her at some point to tell her that yes, she really is a genius who’s right about everything, and to ask a little tiny favor from her. Hopefully the flattery would help with that part.

Breakfast was slow and leisurely, and a lot later than the last two days. There was a steady trickle of people in and out of the cafe, some coming here so they could hide in the warm smell of the bakery and study, some coming here to eat and then leave, some just sitting at their table alone without ordering. Brave had his stupid sunglasses on, and Tasuku felt overly-conspicuous in his uniform, but the people staring at him didn’t bother him as much today as it usually did. Maybe it was just because Brave was there with him. Or maybe it was because they had their hands interlaced on top of the table, in plain view for everyone to see. Yesterday, Tasuku had hardly thought anything of it when they’d been holding hands walking around the city, but today he felt hyper-aware of every single person that glanced at them. He wasn’t quite sure if he was embarrassed by it, proud, or some weird and confusing combination of the two.

Their next stop was visiting Gao--it was too early in the day to expect everyone else Brave had met to be with him, but Tasuku still figured it’d only be right for Gao to say goodbye before Brave left. Yesterday Tasuku had gotten so jealous of how his friend got to fight alongside the knight he’d fallen head over heels for, but today he knew that he’d gotten the better end of the deal--not that he could say that in front of Gao. That’d really get too embarrassing.

“Hey Gao, can you do something for me?”

“Yeah, what is it?”

“Can you pass on a message to Kuguru and Noboru for me? Tell them they were right.”

There weren’t really any other pressing concerns for them for the remaining hour until it was time for Brave to leave, so they went back to the park they’d visited the first day--now that they were there at a reasonable hour, there were other people around--families running around happily and couples on dates. Tasuku and Brave sat in the sunshine in one of the less busy parts, and now with the sun washing over them like this, Tasuku had to admit he was wrong about one thing--even the sun couldn’t compare to how warm and happy Brave made him feel.

Both of them were refusing to let go of the other’s hand, a little gesture that said more than Tasuku could have. Brave didn’t really want to go back so soon either.

“Hey.”

“Yeah?”

Tasuku looked up at the sky--perfectly clear and blue, not a single cloud to be seen. “You _will_ come back soon, won’t you?”

Brave leaned his head against Tasuku’s shoulder. “As soon as I can. I can’t be satisfied with bootleg broadcasts of you anymore, after all!” There was a smile in his voice, and that was good enough for Tasuku.

\----------------

About half an hour before noon, Tasuku finally relented and walked with Brave back to the Card Office HQ. As soon as they stepped across the threshold, it’d really solidify that yes, he was leaving, and no, there wasn’t anything Tasuku could do about it.

Even worse, he’d had to let go of Brave’s hand before any of his coworkers saw--as he’d explained before they even got to the massive building, he was already well-gossiped about for his age and for his irregular fame, and he didn’t want anyone taking jabs at him for their new highly unprofessional relationship. There was only one person he could trust with the information, and she wasn’t even in right now.

They walked in, and immediately Tasuku felt a weight pressing down on his shoulders. He waved at the officers that acknowledged in, but walking in so he could say goodbye to Brave made him feel like he was slogging through mud. The paperwork process to say yes, Brave had been a good little extradimensional visitor and hadn’t done anything illegal under Tasuku’s watchful eye was done in a state that felt more like floating somewhere outside his body, and he felt that way the whole time through the many passages and corridors to the waiting room where they’d stay until Brave’s return could be finalized. The only thing that kept him from floating off entirely was when Brave’s hand brushed against his--this time, it felt deliberate, and Tasuku was thankful for it. Brave was still here, after all.

The waiting room in question was completely empty of other people, and it managed to feel too big and claustrophobic at the same time. At least now that they were alone again, he could grab onto Brave’s hand again--sure, he knew there were security cameras, but he also knew they weren’t good enough to see something that small. Unless they’d been upgraded recently, in which case he’d go back to being gossip fodder again, but it was worth it.

“Missing me already?” Brave grinned at him, and it only made Tasuku feel a little bit better. “Here, let me show you something cool.”

He stood up, gently pulling his hand from Tasuku’s, and winked at him. An aura of shining, golden light surrounded him, filling the room until he was shining so brightly Tasuku couldn’t look directly at him, and then it faded just as quickly--and now Brave was standing in front of him in full armor, and even under the cheap fluorescent lamps he was magnificent. “Better up close, am I right?”

From far away, the armor had turned the kind of obnoxious, over-the-top Brave into a regal knight that would have been easy to picture charging into battle before anyone else--confident that his first strike would be the last. Now that he was getting to see it up close, Tasuku could see the faintest marks of battle on the armor--nicks and chips in the metal, little tiny scars that proved that every single one of his stories was true. It was built more to be lightweight and provide only the most basic of defense, little more than breastplate and gauntlets, but didn’t that just go to show how amazing Brave really was?

“Alright.” Brave took Tasuku’s hands in his and pulled him up, interlacing their fingers again. “I...uh. I have something I want to ask you. You don’t have to answer right now if you don’t want to but...I need to say this before I leave.” He took a deep breath and looked Tasuku right in the eye. “For knights, we have to have...a _reason_. For what purpose do we lift our blade? For what purpose do we put ourselves in harm’s way? For what purpose do we look upon the world and desire its peace, rather than sit back and let the fiends have their way?

“For most of the other knights I’ve known and talked with, those questions got asked starting with ‘for _whose_ purpose’ at the front, and for as long as I can remember my answer to them was simply ‘for myself’. No one I met nor any kingdom I stayed with could offer to the world the same justice I wanted to deliver.” Brave’s eyes dropped, like he couldn’t quite keep looking at Tasuku. “But...lately, I’ve been thinking about it. I think I have a different answer for all of those now.”

Tasuku didn’t say anything, just squeezed Brave’s hands gently. His heart was pounding wildly, and in the silence, he was a little bit worried Brave could hear it.

“There _is_ someone. Someone I want to fight for. Someone who is worth lifting my blade for. Someone I want to protect, no matter what the cost. Someone who I...I want to bring peace to, if I can.” Brave had started blushing, still unable to meet Tasuku’s eyes, and he would’ve loved to lean his forehead against Brave’s like the knight had done last night to reassure him, but his big headpiece was in the way. Or maybe if Brave could just look at his face again, he’d see how bright red Tasuku was. “This person...this person means the world to me. We’ve only met once, but he too wants to protect people for no personal gain, just the same as me. I know he would fight for me the same way I would fight for me. He would protect me, as I want to protect him. And…” Brave took a deep breath. “He already brings me peace.”

He looked Tasuku in the eye again, clearly a struggle. “Ryuuenji Tasuku, will you be my liege?”

The question had been coming for a while. Ever since they’d sat in the deserted mall and Brave had told him he was royalty and talked about becoming Tasuku’s knight, he’d...kind of been hoping this would happen. Even more once he realized that yes, he _did_ like Brave, and that getting called a prince by Brave felt...different than when anyone else did. He wanted something Brave could tell everyone back in Dungeon World, and, a little bit more selfishly, he wanted a reason to feel proud of the stupid title he’d been given by the media.

So it was obvious what his answer was going to be. “I will.”

Brave’s smile was proof enough that was the right answer, as if there was any doubt of it. “Now I finally have a name to give people when they ask who they serve. Imagine the look on their faces when it’s the same as mine!”

“And…” This was something else Tasuku had been thinking about. “A name to give people when they try to ask you to marry them.” Somehow, Brave managed to look even more embarrassed now that this topic had come back up, but it was still nothing compared to how Tasuku felt saying it. “You can tell them I’m holding both your hands and they don’t get either of them.”

Suddenly, the door opened, and Stella walked in. “Oh, my. Am I interrupting something?”

Tasuku stammered a “No!” in the exact same breath Brave hit her with a pointed “Yes.”

Stella laughed at them, and held up the box she was holding. “I’ve got a special delivery, as ordered by a certain special someone.”

Brave went and took the box from her and opened it, and inside was a small cake, delicately iced and decorated with slices of fruit. He looked questioningly at Tasuku, who suddenly couldn’t look anywhere near Brave.

“I...The first time we went to that cafe, I saw you staring at those cakes. So I asked Stella earlier if she could pick one up for you. As a goodbye gift.” He kind of wanted to melt into the ground. “I know you’re not allowed to take anything with you, so it’s kind of stupid, but...”

Brave looked kind of overwhelmed. “I’d forgotten all about that. You’re a lot more attentive than you look.”

“And what’s _that_ supposed to mean?”

Brave laughed, but Tasuku got a feeling that the gift meant a lot more to him than he was letting on.

\----------------

The cake got eaten in record time, and it was worth it, since only a few minutes later another officer came to collect Brave and see him off. Their actual goodbyes felt kind of...wimpy. Tasuku couldn’t reach out and hug Brave, say he’d see him soon, or even just reach out and take his hands again. It was kind of lonely, and the knight hadn’t even left to his own world again yet.

Once Brave actually left, Tasuku just felt heavy. He trailed after Stella, who tapped him on top of the head with her clipboard. “You see? This is exactly what I was talking about.”

“What?”

“I told you it’d be hard, making a trans-dimensional relationship work. And yet you didn’t believe me, and now this happens! What am I going to do with you, Tasuku?” Her smile softened. “I do hope things work out for you two, though. If I see anything about having to go check up on things in Dungeon World, I’ll be sure to recommend you first.”

“Thanks.” For all the teasing she did, Stella really was a nice person. She was kind of like the big sister he’d never had. “How did you know everything was going to turn out like this? I mean…when I first saw him, I thought he was kind of...obnoxious. Annoying. Don’t tell him I said that.”

Stella giggled. “Is it really that big a surprise that I know things? I can read the air a lot better than you can.” She smiled at him. “By the way, your schedule is cleared for the rest of the day. We won’t be calling you in for anything unless it’s a major emergency, so you can go home and mope for a while.”

He’d frowned at her at the time, but that was exactly what he did--not even bothering to take off his uniform, he collapsed into his bed and shoved his face into his pillow. His whole apartment was silent, and there of course wasn’t any sound from the empty neighboring one, and it all suddenly felt...too big. Too empty. Tasuku had gotten a lot more used to having Brave around than he’d thought, given that they’d only spent two days together, but it had felt like a lot longer than that. And now that Brave was gone, he didn’t know what to do with himself.

He dragged himself up out of bed, feet heavy against the ground as he stepped into the bathroom and stared at himself in the mirror. He’d never really thought too much about his face before, other than washing it and making sure he didn’t look awful every morning, but now staring at his reflection just made his chest ache. He could almost, _almost_ pretend that Brave was looking at him.

Tasuku tried to mimic that lopsided grin of Brave’s he loved so much, but...no, that wasn’t quite right. Something was missing. He tried other expressions, but, no...he couldn’t get them quite right. No matter what he did, it just couldn’t match up to the real thing.

He sighed, and then put his hand up against the cold glass. It was silly, but maybe, _maybe_ if he thought about it hard enough, he’d be able to somehow send this touch to Brave, let him know he was thinking about him. He held his hand there for a long time, long enough that the glass started warming up against his palm, but he could only hope it would be enough. He didn’t have any way to contact Brave anymore. Lack of interdimensional communication was _stupid_.

This time, Tasuku changed out of his uniform before flopping back onto his bed. He dug his phone out, staring at the darkened screen, until he finally gave up. He sat up and dialed a very important number.

“Hello?”

“Um, hi, Gao. Sorry that this is out of the blue, but can I ask another favor of you?”

“Yeah, sure! What do you need?”

“Can you talk to your deckbuilder friend...I mean, can you talk to Baku and ask him if he has a spare copy of...that one card?”

“Which one? I don’t know which card you mean.”

Deep breath. “I’m hoping to get a copy of Legendary Brave, Tasuku.”  



End file.
